CCHQ appeared to join the Obamamania yesterday - rushing out via email a video of David Cameron's meeting with the Illinois Senator. I can't remember a video that they have produced more quickly and it's certainly unusual for CCHQ to send out any emails - other than to the press - over a weekend.
Earlier in the week we learnt that nearly a third of Tory MPs may back Obama. Nile Gardiner of the Washington DC-based Thatcher Center (and a CentreRight contributor) has poured cold water on this fever this morning in an article for The Sunday Telegraph. He raises three key concerns:
- Downplaying of the special relationship: "After meeting with Gordon Brown yesterday, Senator Obama briefly acknowledged the special relationship, but only after prompting by journalists. He has yet to show much affinity with Britain; we should be wary of taking yesterday's remarks at face value. In fact, his key foreign policy speeches have not mentioned Britain at all. An Obama presidency could well usher in a seismic shift in the transatlantic alliance, with the centre of gravity of US policy in Europe moving away from London towards Berlin and Paris. His controversial decision to make Germany and France the centrepiece of his European tour, with Britain tacked on almost as an afterthought, is a clear sign of the importance placed by the Obama camp on enhanced relations with the continent."
- Enthusiasm for the European Union (please note Mr Hannan): "The Democrats are traditionally strong supporters of a united, federal Europe, and have little sympathy for British objections to the further centralisation of political, military and economic power in Brussels. If David Cameron becomes prime minister at the head of a Eurosceptic administration, Downing Street and an Obama White House would be worlds apart."
- Protectionism: "Closely aligning himself with powerful labour unions, Obama has pronounced protectionist tendencies. He has opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement as well as a host of free trade treaties from Colombia to South Korea. If the Left wins control of the White House in November's election, many fear a new era of American protectionism will emerge. This could have a real and tangible impact in the UK - in shielding domestic US workers from foreign competition, including in the sensitive area of defence contracts, the Democrats would put thousands of British jobs at stake. This will draw the White House into conflict with the pro-free trade UK."
