Comment: A new dawn for Britain too
A new dawn for Britain too?
Wednesday, 05, Nov 2008 12:00
Barack Obama's victory marks a new era not just American politics, but Britain's too.
On the face of it, Barack Obama's victory should have little effect on Westminster.
His most well-publicised foreign policy, to pull out of Iraq and concentrate on the Afghan front, tallies with current UK strategy. The changes we will see at the start of an Obama presidency – the closure of Guantanamo Bay, for example – are in line with the UK government's given opinion. There are no meaty policy differences to send shockwaves through the British establishment.
But the most important changes Britain will experience are not to do concrete policy proposals. They are to do with the nature of the relationship between Britain and America. The changes will happen at leadership level, but far more important is what happens the public level.
If you just concentrate on leadership, things have never looked rosier. The US and UK are inseparable, speaking with one voice on almost any foreign policy issue you care to mention. But there's a reason for that, and it's that Britain just says whatever America tells it to say.
It wasn't always like this. Some Foreign Office officials still recall fondly how Margaret Thatcher stood up to her friend Ronald Reagan over the Falklands conflict. That's the kind of special relationship Britons appreciate – one that resembles a real friendship, with all its arguments and disagreements – rather than one which resembles that of a lord and his serf.
It's precisely the inequality of the relationship which has driven a wedge between the British and American public. Never before has anti-Americanism been so rife in the UK. Britain's international reputation was been dragged through the dirt just like America's. But at least America chose its route. Britain merely followed. The British people have grown tired and disgusted at watching their leader's sycophancy.
If anything can change that, it will be the election of Barack Obama. He is reported to have told a Democrats Abroad meeting in London earlier this year that he wants the relationship to be more equal. But beyond his own agenda, there will be a change in how Britons view America. No longer will it be a country run by a man depicted as a monkey, dragging the country ignobly into morally questionable conflicts. It's now run by a presidential rock star with big ideas and soaring rhetoric.
Maybe some of that rhetoric could rub off. Many political observers are suspicious of the vague abstractions Obama deals in – all this dreamy talk of change and climbing every mountain. But abstractions and idealism can mean a lot when people believe in them. A leftward shift in American politics opens up a wealth of opportunities for Britain's reaction to issues like the banking crisis.
With western opinion turning leftwards and the crisis requiring government-led solutions, Brown could seize on the new presidency as a partnership in building a better-regulated economy. The master of micro-management and policy detail is not incompatible with the lofty idealism of his colleague across the Atlantic. Obama has exhibited some protectionist sentiments, but the two men have similar ideals. With Brown encouraged to change the global economy by buoyant polls at home, Obama's willingness to embrace radical ideas could seal the deal.
At home, an Obama presidency will change the way ethnic minorities in Britain view the electoral process. These groups will now know that similar countries have found a voice for them. There's no reason Britain should not be endeavouring to do the same. Young people will ask themselves why no one on Question Time makes them feel like Obama does. It's an appropriate concern. Young people are not innately apathetic. They are apathetic because nothing inspiring is on offer to them. Perhaps an Obama presidency will make them do something about it.
Nothing is concrete this morning. Everything is still to be formed, as the contours of an Obama presidency become clear. But Britain's relationship with America is about to come out of its darkest period. Transatlanticists should breathe a sigh of relief.
Ian Dunt