Ach, David, methinks you protest too much. Is Obama’s problem with BP really “rooted in prejudice”? Or might it be based on the fact that the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico is doing him considerable political damage? The latter, surely.
I don’t think the President comes out of this affair especially brilliantly but he’s responding, as any politician would, to pressing political concerns that only the very bravest breed of politician would ignore. It’s unfortunate that the Cult of the Presidency grows ever-stronger (and unfortunate too that Obama is no Canute) but there you have it. We are where we are.
The notion that Obama is somehow motivated by anti-British prejudice is not one backed up by any great measure of substance. Sure, Hillary Clinton’s comments on the Falklands were ill-advised (though also, a more charitable interpretation might suggest, slightly off-key diplomatic boilerplate) and sure, the sight of Gordon Brown scurrying through a New York kitchen to grab a few words with the American president was unedifying (though it said as much about Brown as Obama) and, lord knows, the innocent “return” of the now-famous Churchill bust has been blown out of all proportion by British pundits who love nothing better than a fresh excuse for peeved outrage.
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