Obama: a fascinating contrast with Bush
This G20 exists at so many levels. Take Brazil’s President Lula. Fearless campaigner against the carbon footprint. But having flown from Brazil to Doha and Doha to Paris, today he abandoned his plane, sending it empty to London while he took the train.
But the high spot thus far has been the Obama-Brown press conference. Brown, nervous and reading tightly from a script, Obama relaxed. The “One” has a cold.
Fascinating contrast with Bush. When he visited London there was a degree of fear in the air that something might go wrong. George W Bush didn’t exactly exude confidence. Today the atmosphere was relaxed. The Secret Service cast jokes with each other – as if Obama’s confidence enables everyone around him to relax.
There’s little doubt Brown was shirt-tailing Obama. The president is making the prime minister look good.
But whilst the talk centred on fiscal stimuli and international regulation, Obama sidestepped the formality with a reference to meeting Brown’s two boys. He said: “We talked dinosaurs and climate change.”
Obama already looks weathered by his first 70 days in office. Hillary looked on, 10ft directly in front of him, facing him. Impossible to know what was going on in her mind, save that she laughed at his jokes.
Treasury Secretary Geithner sat two away from her, rather small and greying fast. He has a worry or two on his mind.
Brown issued five tests by which we could judge success. One: regulation. Two: action to resume growth. Three: co-operation to sustain growth. Four: fight protectionism. Five: help the poor.
To watch live coverage of Barack Obama’s meeting with Gordon Brown, plus the protests in the City of London, click here.
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I am starting to feel very sorry for Brown. He loves tests that come in fives. Great.
Obama knows he has four years, so can be relaxed.
Yes, even from the TV screen, that totally relaxed atmosphere spreading in the room was clearly noticeable, as soon as Obama opened his mouth.
As I twittered earlier on – I sat there thinking what it would have been like if Bush had been standing there instead.
I don’t approve much of stressing and going on about the charisma (or lack thereof) of public leaders and statesmen. But, it IS strange how much a person actually can influence things, just from his or her special way of being.
But I draw my line at clothes. The BBC had a thorough going-through of what type of designer labelled pieces of garment the Brown’s and the Obama’s were wearing this morning. I mean – who gives a damn?
I wish they could just get on with what they are here for, skip the fancy celebrity dinner parties and get down to work!
No doubt Obama is a class act – particularly as compared to George W Bush. It’s hard to believe that Americans suffered the embarrassment of having him as President for so long (I declare an interest having been in the US to help Kerry in ’04).
Are we so dazzled because the comparison is so stark? The Americans now have a President who can string words together and – highly unusual – they have elected an intellectual. Most un-American.
Visiting Americans will no longer have to pretend to be Canadian.
Personally I was and still am for Hillary. The big change in America is not when they elect a black man but when they overcome their deep cultural misogyny and elect a woman. I had rather hoped it would be Hillary. It may still be.
I predict a zero political bounce for Gordon Brown from this summit.
It is certainly an about-turn: a US President relying on a British PM to articulate the “war on terror” message – both replaced – now we have a “clunky” PM eclipsed by Obama’s communication skills.
I found Gordon Brown slightly embarrassing. He was like a little puppy – eager to please. Also funny was the way Obama was hustled into the imported armoured car outside number ten, while Brown stood on the doorstep.
It gave the impression that the life of our PM was less important that that of the President. Though of course there was never any danger at all.
It’s hard to explain but the whole thing made me feel that our country is inferior to the USA and that we were being visited by ‘the boss’. I’ve never felt quite like that before and I didn’t like it.