?to reaffirm our lovely Special Relationship, please, Mr Obama sir
Mr Cameron is off to Washington. And frankly, who can blame him. A growing economy, falling unemployment and a leader who knows how to steer controversial health reforms through successfully. It?s amazing the Prime Minister hasn?t booked his ticket sooner.
His official visit, which starts tomorrow, will obviously include some serious diplomacy, especially in relation to the growing threat of military action in Iran, and impending withdrawal from the quagmire of Afghanistan. It will also signal the start of what Downing Street hopes will be a political fightback. A major state visit, followed by the Budget, and then what most analysts predict will be a set of positive quarterly growth figures. Incumbency has its advantages, and this is the month David Cameron intends to ram those advantages home.
But aside from the politicking, diplomatic and electoral, this week represents an even more significant milestone. The Triumph of Atlanticism.
For the past 50 years the debate has ? if not exactly raged ? then simmered. Should Britain embrace our American cousins, or our European neighbours? Do we continue to stick with our most significant historic alliance, or build our partnerships afresh?
In the 1970s Vietnam and Watergate cast a shadow; Europe represented a new dawn. Then the 80s saw the great Right-wing Atlantic renaissance. After that came Tony Blair, who, typically, began by casting himself as a good European, then a good Atlanticist, and finally, through his Iraqi adventurism, came close to becoming Altanticism?s unwitting nemesis.
But despite George Bush?s comical attempts to impersonate a world statesman, and Blair?s misguided attempts to cast himself as his sidekick, the issue was never quite settled. Until today. At last the great debate is over. Whether we like it or not, we are all Atlanticists now.
The European dream is dead, replaced by the grim reality of a greater Germany. The engine that will help pull Britain out of recession will bear the stars and stripes, not the flag of the EU. Our security again rests squarely in the hands of Uncle Sam, not Uncle Nicolas or Aunt Angela.
This reality is going to be hard for many people to accept, particularly many on the Left. It will be especially true as we are forced to watch Barack Obama and David Cameron sitting back and sharing a beer, a burger and a few hoops at the basketball on Tuesday. The pageantry of Wednesday?s White House banquet will also stick in the craw.
But frankly, that?s tough. We bet on a horse. And it lost.
The Left loves to taunt the Right for its fanatical Euroscepticism. But that has also frequently served to mask our own equally damaging, and fanatical, anti-Atlanticism. Reagan and Bush were villains straight out of central ? make that centre-Left ? casting. But look too at the attacks on Barack Obama, the most liberal US president in 30 years. ?The Surrender President? ? the New Statesman; ?Obama?s Wars Without End? ? The Guardian.
?Those nutty Europhobes,? we laugh, before picking up our ?Down with the Guantanamo-building, Iraq-invading, Tea-Party-loving, banker-worshipping, pistol-packing, Israeli-supporting, Chavez-poisoning Yankee imperialist? placards. Think the Eurosceptics are obsessed with plots by the bureaucrats of Brussels to enslave all free men? Just wait till you get a member of the "liberal Left" onto the subject of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.
Tony Blair was mocked as George Bush?s best-in-show. Indeed in 2007, long after the full horror of Iraq had been realised, he was branded ?delusional? by MPs, for claiming that "the relationship with America is what opens lots of doors everywhere, including the Middle East. For better or worse, this country for the last 10 years has been right at the heart of every single major international agenda ? whether it is terrorism, climate change, Africa.? But on the broader strategic significance of that relationship, as opposed to the Iraq catastrophe, time and history have proved him right.
Europe, whatever worthy and noble aspirations we have had for it, has proved a dead end. Many of us, me included, argued Europe was the future, the special relationship a thing of the past. We were wrong. Totally, utterly, unequivocally wrong.
At least on the former. The extent to which the US places special store on its relationship with us is a debatable point. But the warmth of the welcome being extended to David Cameron indicates Barack Obama at least recognises there is life in the old dog yet.
Thank heaven for small mercies. Not so long ago many thought we should to turn away from the United States. Dear God, no. We must grab them. Cling to them. Hold on tight and never let them go.
America, we want you. We need you. Whether you, or we, like it or not.
bettie page harry caray maksim chmerkovskiy s.978 larry ellison go ask alice go ask alice
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