The Quality Of Our Leadership

[poliphilo]

According to WikiLeaks the incoming Tory administration was falling over itself to fawn on the Americans. William Hague proudly told Richard LeBaron, deputy Chief of Mission, that he and Cameron and Osborne were all "children of Thatcher". Their anxiety over the possibility that Obama might downgrade the "special relationship" was so febrile that (in LeBaron's words) it "would be humorous, if it were not so corrosive".

What Hague and his colleagues don't seem to have grasped is that the relationship between Reagan and Thatcher (whatever you may think of them) was based on mutual respect. Maggie thought nothing of ringing Ronnie up and giving him an earful

It's nice to know the gambolling of these little dogs amuses their American masters.

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

The comparison simply does not hold, though. At its height, the British Empire was secure and self-assured. You had absolute and unquestioned faith in your superiority as a civilization and the natural confidence that springs from such faith. The US has none of these things and has never had them. We collectively piss the bed at every loud noise and are terrified of every suggested threat, whether foreign or domestic and however palpably absurd. Even at the peak of American empire the US was arguably less self-assured, not more.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to disagree.

The USA is a very new country- a patchwork entity with a civil war in its recent history. I've always thought the bravado and flag-waving hid a deep-seated insecurity.