Cameron and Obama, sans yellow mustard

Above is what they call the ‘raw video’ of David Cameron’s and Barack Obama’s trip to a basketball game last night. It’s the unrefined version of what Downing St hopes will be refined, packaged and sent to your television screen at hyperspeed: images of the PM and the President dressed casually and chatting away as the game goes on. Like I said yesterday, it’s political theatre — designed to benefit both men.

They were then both interviewed at halftime, which you can watch here. This was more about sports than about the political intricacies of the special relationship (Cameron: ‘It’s hard to follow,  sometimes, who’s done exactly what wrong’) — and it appears to have been usurped in the American newspapers by news of Rick Santorum’s two victories in Alabama and Missippi last night, which solidify the idea that it’s Romney versus Rick now. I can’t see Cameron’s visit mentioned anywhere on the homepage of the New York Times website. Although it does feature halfway down the Washington Post’s, along with this bit of commentary:

‘Cameron was such a rookie to American sports traditions that he put ketchup, sans yellow mustard, on his hot dog. At least he washed it down with an all-American Coca-Cola.’

The political theatre will become more politics, less theatre, today — with discussions about Syria and Afghanistan. On the latter, Obama has said that there will be no ‘rush for the exits,’ but, as I’ve already blogged, it’s thought that his White House is considering options for pulling out of the country faster. It’s worth looking out for any further signals on that, from either Obama or Cameron, as the day goes on. In the meantime, the Sun sums it all up in one cartoon.