London G20 analysis: Obama and his British best friend
Gordon Brown and Barack Obama bask in special relationship
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Wednesday, 01, Apr 2009 12:32
This was not just a sprinkling of that much sought-after Obama magic. It was an avalanche, writes Alex Stevenson.
It seemed like an extraordinary turnaround for Downing Street, following the damp squib that was Brown's triumphal arrival in Washington as the first European leader into the Obama White House.
Then the body language between the PM and the president was awkward and stilted; it seemed Brown's personality would scupper the diplomats' efforts to reforge the old transatlantic bond.
That all changed today. Brown, all courtesy and smiles, beamed his approval and admiration as he stood next to Obama in the Foreign Office.
The president discussed how, between discussing Iran and Afghanistan, he had had the opportunity to talk "dinosaurs" with 'Gordon's' children. Brown talked of their cosy chats about treadmills - the running kind - while on the move. Obama dropped in a line about how Michelle has been "really thinking through" their meeting with the Queen. Brown claimed friendship; for once, it seemed this wasn't just diplomatic courtesy.
The personal camaraderie was also backed up by good news on the diplomatic front. It appeared the frostiness seen previously was a reflection of the new Obama administration's reserve towards Britain. Then, Obama talked of a "special partnership"; he couldn't stretch much beyond DVDs when it came to gifts.
It now appears the Americans have realised the error of their ways. That crucial phrase - the two words Brown would have wanted Obama to utter more than any other today - did indeed pass the president's lips. The "special relationship" was a "kinship of ideals", he said, reaffirming the close ties with Britain.
And his friendship extended beyond Downing Street. "The thing I love about Great Britain is its people," he said feelingly. "There's that sense of familiarity as well as difference that makes it just a special place."
The forging of a one-to-one bond and the wider diplomatic recognition backing that up will be hugely welcome in No 10. But even more useful - as the coming prime minister's questions will demonstrate - was their firm unity on policy.
Obama put it very well himself: "I agree with everything that Gordon's said." That statement, following Brown's exposition about the hopelessness of "doing nothing", is unlikely to be brought up in David Cameron's meeting with the president later. But it aptly summed up the real agreement which exists on the fiscal stimulus.
Britain and the US are at the forefront of the campaign to achieve this, even if there are some - like France and Germany, who will give their views later - who disagree. "The separation has been vastly overstated," Obama pressed. But its very existence helped bring Brown and Obama further together.
It was only at the end of the press conference, when landslide-veteran Obama was invited to give electoral advice to Brown, that things started to slip away from the prime minister. "Good policy is good politics," Obama said. Clouds flitted across Brown's face as his grin faded. Could this be interpreted as a little patronising?
Absolutely not, it seems, for Brown made clear that even he was overawed by the man standing next to him. He expressed his huge admiration for the leader of the free world and thanked him profusely. It was almost as if he didn't care about this imbalance. But at the end of an hour-long press conference, the truth was it didn't much.