The Wardman Wire

Lame ducks
Britain and America – two nations divided by a common language. Of course, there are plenty more subtle and not so subtle differences between the US and Britain, but there is also a lot that we have in common. The news that George Bush was steering clear of the Republican convention made me realise we share a very similar political problem at the moment. The lame duck leader.

You can just tell that America is now waiting for their new President. George Bush, assuming he can hold off bombing Iran or the Russians for just a few more months, is history. You can tell he is history as there are all ready the starry eyed eulogies from journalists and the like declaring that he wasn’t so bad after all and that in years to come we will judge his presidency very differently to how we do now. Yup, a sure fire sign the man is history.

The great new hope
America is waiting for the great new hope – Barack Obama. The frenzy is something I have not seen since Tony Blair in the mid-1990s when we all knew Major was done and dusted. Change was heard in every other sentence. Blair was the doe-eyed Bambi who could do no wrong. It was even ok for a split second for a politician to dance to the gay anthem “Things can only get better”. Apart from the fact Major was still, officially, Prime Minister, the country had moved on. Now all it wanted was for Blair to take over to get stuck in to business.

Is history repeating itself?
And so, you begin to feel, that history is repeating itself with Gordon Brown. People you sense have moved on from Gordon Brown. They have accepted he is finished. Where has he been while the Russia/Georgia conflict has taken off? David Miliband has been the acceptable face for the media coverage and public’s interest. What about the economy? It has all been about Alastair Darling, who has ripped in to Labour’s record and softly, softly approach on telling the truth about the economy with apparent impunity. Gordon Brown is no-where to be seen. Policy is in flux and even his attempts to re-launch the party this month are likely to fall on apathetic ears.

The polls have held static throughout the summer, bowling over the theory that it was bad news that kept the Tories ahead. There are few things like sporting success and the feel good factor to improve a government’s rating – but the Olympics did nothing.

The smell of hope
Just like George Bush, Gordon Brown is a lame duck leader. Just like America, Britain has moved on and is looking to its next leader – be it McCain or Obama in the US or Miliband or Cameron in the UK. But unlike America, you can sense an aroma of hope wafting over the Atlantic towards us, here in Britain. The sense that change will actually mean something, that the US can move on from its pariah status around the world and internally reunite as a country that has been polarised by the domestic and foreign policies of a leader who wasn’t quite up to the mark.

The real difference
That smell of hope wafting from America is like holding a juicy burger under the nose of a starving man to Britain. You see, in spite of the similarities of the lame duck leader, American now has a real choice and a chance to move on. Britain, I fear, does not. The desire for Bush to leave office is outweighed by the yearning for a President Obama. It is a positive yearning for change.

While there is a public yearning for Brown to go, this is not matched or outweighed by the public’s yearning for a Prime Minister Cameron or Miliband.  It is a negative yearning for change.