crisis management: us vs uk

Here in Britain we heard the government announce its response to the economic crisis yesterday, amid cheers and jeers in the House of Commons. The Chancellor Alistair Darling laid out a series of actions designed to stimulate the economy via fiscal means, and although it contained some sensible, albeit crazy and high-risk measures - such are the times we're in - it was also clearly designed to draw "dividing lines" between Labour and the Tories. In other words, the plan was highly political, and the next election was clearly very much in mind when it was drawn up. Then his Tory shadow George Osbourne stood up and delivered a swingeing attack on it, declaring that "the choice at the next election is clear!" He sat down to much braying and agreement in the Tory press that he'd hit 'em where it hurts.

Meanwhile, President-elect Obama is engaged in what he termed the "deliberate haste" of transition. He's assembling a team of highly accomplished men and women on the basis of their expertise and experience rather than their political leanings. You get the impression that if there is a way out of this, they'll find it. He's been congratulated on his appointments by Republicans, as well as Democrats. Even his fiercest enemies during the election go through the motions of expressing support and good will. At least one Republican will be given a major post in his cabinet. There's a palpable sense that the nation has to try and get through this together - that the times are too serious for party politics. Even if the spirit of consensus collapses in a few months time, it is impressive.

It's not the only contrast. Obama clearly sees the crisis as a chance achieve big, bold things (on health, energy etc) that will change the direction of the country for decades to come. Things that might not otherwise have the political impetus to get done. Churchill was fond of recalling that the Chinese script for "crisis" was a combination of the figures for "danger" and "opportunity" (is this actually true, does anyone know?) and this is how Obama seems to see things. In Britain, Gordon Brown sees it as an opportunity to bash the Tories and win an election.

Of course, the US is set up very differently from us. I have great respect for our parliamentary system and for the history from which it evolved. There's much about it that makes it more effective than those of other democratic countries. But if there was ever a time when I looked towards the US with envy it's now.

Comments

[mark roberts]

Churchill was wrong.

http://pinyin.info/chinese/crisis.html

This is according to Victor H Mair, Prof of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania.

It is a mistake made by many politicians including JFK, Nixon, Lisa Simpson, Condi Rice and Al Gore.

[peter]

I think the differences you observe have much less to do with the different political systems than with the different stages each country finds itself in their respective political cycles. The USA has just had a long period (8 years) of hard-right, conservative rule, and now finds itself with an incoming administration with centrist, or centre-left inclinations. The UK was in a very similar position to this back in May 1997. What did we observe with the incoming British administration at that time? Well, many of the exact same tendencies we see now in Obama: a willingness to construct consensual policies (eg, Labour kept to the Conservatives' spending plan for its first 2 years), a willingness to include non-party members in the Cabinet (in addition to the businessmen and ex-conservatives appointed to ministerial rank, Blair even contemplated bringing in one P. Ashdown), and a desire to move the terms of political debate across the board from the right to the centre (eg, the ethical foreign policy of Robin Cook; the adoption of a green agenda). Brown is not taking this route now because Britain's political cycle is at a very different stage to the USA's.

[Alex Goodall]

I agree with Peter. Besides, it's pretty easy for Obama to be non-partisan when he's not actually in power. Let's reserve judgement on the differences between US and UK politics for six months or so, after Obama starts announcing stimulus packages that dwarf the one just announced in the UK. I think a resurgence of old-fashioned politics in the USA is closer than might be expected.

[Ian Leslie]

Yes I think y'all have a point. But I still think I have half a point too. The contrast in mindset between Obama vs Brown is striking. That's partly a difference in personal outlook and partly the system. People like Geithner and Summers wouldn't get to hold such powerful posts in the UK because they're not elected politicians. I realise there are good and bad things about that, but at the moment I'm seeing a lot of good...

[Ben]

Edit - OK, so it was obvious.

I'm not sure this is a fair comparison, and you say why in the first paragraph. The Labour plan IS overtly political, but that's where we are in the election cycle. Both parties need to be identifying 'the choice at the next election' (which I doubt will be any 'clearer' this time round than the last two homogenised faux-third-way pissing contests), while Obama & co are a good way off even thinking about mid-terms. Admittedly it's not around the corner here (unless there's something in the snap-election chatter and no-one bottles it this time), but for a fair comparison let's wait until the PE is also 12-18 months away from re-election or otherwise, and see if times are still 'too serious for party politics'.

'Wait and see'... a less interesting blog post I suppose, but alongside our antiquated parliamentary system an equally characteristic British serving of hesitancy/cynicism.