Britain and America

The ‘Big-Mo’ is with Mitt Romney!

Tim Aker, Grassroots Co-ordinator for the British TaxPayers' Alliance, believes Romney is the man with the momentum.

If you throw enough money at something, will the problem go away?  It will if you’re Willard Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts and someone who is, clearly, the front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination.  The momentum is with Mitt Romney – and it could carry him through the primaries to the White House.

Look how far he’s come.  Romney’s campaign flagged at the outset.  His polling was risible – matched by his poor national standing.  Videos flooded YouTube with Romney’s sound-bites supporting abortion and extending gay rights.  Soon the self-appointed champion of social conservatism faced the ire of leading social conservatives horrified that he tried to out-liberal Ted Kennedy in his 1994 Senate race.  Pundits immediately coined the phrase ‘Mitt-flop’ and conservative pressure groups set out to demonize him as a liberal, a RINO (Republican in name only).

Yet after three debates, millions of dollars spent and a flood of polls, Romney is climbing.  Not only that, he has soared in the early primary states.  Recent polling in Iowa, New Hampshire, Utah and Michigan has Romney leading by 10% on average.  While his national polling may only hover above 10%, leading in the early primary states sets him up for surviving well into Super Tuesday.  Remember, most commentators say there are three tickets out of Iowa and only two out of New Hampshire.  Romney leads impressively in both.

So how has this turn around in fortunes come about?

Charles Groome reviews the New Hampshire debates

I had a serious US Presidential Elections '08 research binge and watched both party debates on CNN so as to develop a firmer view of what each candidate, Democrat and Republican, has in mind for their country.

Given the unpopularity of Bush I would have thought it'd be the Republicans who'd be infighting over new directions, but it was the Democrats who starting tearing chunks out of each other. A rather rambunctious and petulant John Edwards got busy point scoring over Clinton and Obama whilst trying to make the former piggy in the middle by heaping praise on the latter whenever it suited - bait Obama happily hooked onto amidst his surprisingly lacklustre performance. Of them all the two who came across professionally were Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and of them the only one to come across Presidential was Hillary.

Not to be swayed solely by a single debate I have given more thought to the value of the return of the Clintons to the White House. So often we hear of elder statesmen flitting around the world spearheading new philanthropic initiatives, trying to spend whatever political capital they've saved in the uncomfortable knowledge their tenure didn't solve half as much as they'd promised or hoped. Well a win in 2008 would give Madame President and First Gentleman Clinton a second chance to do the business. They’d have a whole load more capital to spend and the investment knowledge to do it profitably.

Cameron praises America's sense of identity

Joseph Willits writes from London:

Conservative Party leader David Cameron spoke of his aspiration of social cohesion in Britain yesterday. The impression that Britain sometimes lacks the necessary harmony to provide a cohesive society was articulated fervently, with the hope of such unity being idealised.  Cameron openly encouraged Britain to humbly maintain and enhance cohesion, particularly with relation to British Muslims.  “Alienation”, “disillusionment”, and the “ambiguity” between faith and nation, he said, were plaguing the nation, and disabling a frequently shared ambition.

As the US, places in the forefront of its mind, the prospect of a post-Bush America, and the UK contemplates the return of a Conservative government, a differing relationship waits to be forged between the two countries.  Cameron’s speech insinuated huge implications of the cohesion held by Britain and America, a strengthened relationship, and the need to enhance it further.  He made it clear, that if Britain’s aspiration was its own social cohesion, then it had to look towards America for advice, principle and a sense of pride.  Cameron asks us to:

"Think of America. Of course America is not perfect. But it does succeed in creating, to an extent far more evident that we have achieved here, a real sense of common identity - about what it means to be an American. Freedom. Family. Opportunity and community."

Stephan Shakespeare: The BBC is undermining British support for transatlantic common interests

Stephan Shakespeare is CIO of the YouGov polling organisation and founder of 18 Doughty Street Talk TV.

A recent exchange on this site demonstrated the acute need for better communication between Conservatives on either side of the Atlantic.

On Friday, Tim posted on BBC bias against America. The subsequent exchange of comments demonstrated that even here, where the context is a desire to improve British-American relations, we were talking at cross-purposes.

Scott Green argued that BBC bias didn’t matter much: “Get the policy right and perception issues will resolve themselves…” He added:  “Successful policies don't need aggressive advocacy. They sell themselves…. Give me a policy I can sell, and I'll sell it. Simple as that.”

And Atheling2 commented: "The only Americans who take the BBC for its word in disseminating the news are the EU-loving, Leftist leaning types because the BBC reflects their values and mindset. In light of that, now why in the world would Conservatives (i.e. GOP supporters) pay attention to that?"

Scott and Atheling2 make good points which I wouldn’t argue with on their own terms, but they have completely missed the reason why we, on this side of the Atlantic, are so concerned about this. And the fact that they have missed it underlines the deeper problem of British-American misunderstanding.

First Scott: of course good policy comes before good communication strategies. But this discussion is not about Iraq, it’s about the future media context for British-American relations. The next time you want to sell a policy here, you will find ears have been deafened by the BBC.

Secondly Atheling2: it's not American reaction to the BBC that matters to us - it’s the action of BBC bias on the British mindset. And that should matter to you.

So Scott and Atheling2, I have no disagreement with your views, they’re just not the ones that answer this particular problem.

For whatever reason, whether fairly or unfairly, the reputation of America has fallen heavily in Europe over the last five years. You need to understand why that’s important to you (and to us pro-Americans).

Two days after 9/11, a former US Ambassador was a guest on the BBC’s flagship discussion programme, Question Time. He was reduced to tears when he found sections of the audience jeering at him and - even as the bodies were still being pulled from the rubble - saying that America had got what it deserved.

Five years later, we find debates in school about whether the attack on whether 9/11 was caused by the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Yes, that’s right: in modern history, time can go backwards, cause and effect is a river that runs uphill, and justification for mass murder can be retro-fitted.

In this climate of opinion, can you imagine how easy it is to distort American motives and American policies? Please don’t think that next year, or five years from now, when you need support, you’ll be able to rely on another Tony Blair.

We pro-American Brits are not pro-American because we happen to like you. We’re pro-American because we need each other. We face problems together. We can solve them better together. And if the BBC (which you must understand is incredibly powerful at setting the agenda, and at setting the context for political discourse) is allowed to take an active role in promoting anti-Americanism, in driving a wedge between us, then it will be much harder to work together in the future.

America has been significantly weakened over the last five years. It needs to make every possible effort to build itself up again. That includes making sure friends and supporters remain friends and supporters.