Peggy Noonan has penned an open letter to David Cameron for the Telegraph, advising him on his forthcoming trip to America. It's mainly an excuse to rehash some of her recent criticisms of Obama. She lands some punches, I think - there's a good argument to say that Obama was wrong to go after healthcare when the economy was in a hole - but mainly she manages to make America sound like a weepy, insecure girlfriend in constant need of emotional reassurance:
Advice on your visit? Love America. It not only deserves it, at the moment it needs it. Our morale is low. Do you want to help preserve what has been called the Special Relationship? (Actually, I don't know: do you?) If you do, then when you speak here, speak of your love for this great nation. We don't, not in a deep way and not enough. Even our President doesn't. He tries, but he can't get it right because it's all so abstract to him... Anyway, when you speak of America speak with love. People will hear you. It will break through the clutter, as your media obsessives say. It will be a new message, or one Americans haven't heard in a while done well, and truly. And don't focus-group it. Mean it.
So just to summarise: tell us you love us. You want our relationship to survive, right? Well, do you love us? Please say you do. Do you? Do you mean that?
Good Christ.
Posted by: DraneSpout | July 16, 2010 at 02:59 PM
If I may dust off an old chestnut: ROFL.
It'd be just like the Yanks to fall for Dave. He's a greasy toff - he plays to type. He probably lives in a castle. He's probably all thumbs at physical tasks. He has a very plummy accent.
I'll lay a fiver he drops his aitches to get out of a tight spot.
Posted by: Scott | July 16, 2010 at 03:00 PM
I worry about Peggy. That column is tripe, in so many ways. I think I'm like you, Ian: I used to love Peggy, and thought her commentary in the campaign was brilliant. But now she's reverted to this unthinking, often inconsistent, received-wisdom-spouting archetype the likes of which we frankly have far too much of already. Most upsettingly, she's ceased to question the lazy assumptions which pervade political media in America. The worst oversimplifications are taken to be solid foundation for argument.
Posted by: Nick | July 16, 2010 at 04:14 PM
I agree with Nick.
Bad-um tish.
Posted by: Charles Barry | July 16, 2010 at 09:00 PM
i like what Obama has done with the stimulus packages. i know this is off topic, but i'm back to work now for the first time in 10 months. i'm back in my hard hat, and i think that deserves some praise.
Posted by: Boom Trucks | July 17, 2010 at 04:41 AM
If you ask any person from a foreign country that has never been to the U.S., they will likely agree with this sentiment. Many of those who have traveled here and actively learned about the U.S. would disagree. I think it's easy to be negative on public policy, specifically financial policy.
The situation we are in financially wasn't started in the last 3 years.
Posted by: bucket trucks | May 12, 2011 at 08:45 PM