|
London: Anyone who enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the Democrats Abroad Global Primary in Bayswater's Porchester Hall on Super Tuesday will know why people talk of the British standing for Parliament and Americans running for office.
A sturdy rendition of the Star Spangled Banner set the scene for noisy cheerleading by the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama camps and vigorous sales of candidate cookies. In the end the ballot boxes produced a 971 to 422 victory for Obama.
Best joke of the night? The Barack supporter who suggested that Hillary's biggest problem was that she reminded too many American men of their first wife.
Brits have never taken so much interest in the US primaries. The Democrats are favourites to win the Presidential election and depending on their choice we will either see the first black president or the first woman in the White House.
If it is to be Hillary Clinton, Europeans are entitled to ask what took America, a nation which produces some of the feistiest women on earth, so long to give one of them a crack at the presidency?
Germany has a female Chancellor, Ireland and the Baltics have had their female presidents and Margaret Thatcher won three terms here, starting in the Seventies.
Another reason for the increased interest is that Europeans cannot wait to be rid of George W. Bush.
When a recent poll in Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the UK asked if President Bush had done a good job respondents agreeing were in single digit numbers in every one.
Does it matter to Britain who becomes the next US president? Yes. Whether we like it or not, when America sneezes the world catches a cold. Just look at the havoc created here by the subprime mortgage lending crisis in the United States.
Look how our stock market values dived once economists said the US was heading for a recession. The US President commands the most powerful military force in the world.
President Bush's decision to invade Iraq , and Tony Blair's decision to join him in doing so, have had a huge effect on relations between the West and the Muslim world and so, many would say, on the terrorist threat now faced by countries across Europe.
Internationally-agreed climate change measures have little chance of succeeding unless the US becomes a willing partner. International institutions like the United Nations lose their potency if the US sets its face against collective action.
Fed up with a world in which America makes the dinner and Europe washes the dishes, European politicians want a US President who will consult them and work through international institutions.
They would also like a change of attitude on many key questions.
As the former Europe Minister Denis MacShane told CNN: "I would hope the next administration can open doors to Iran. If President [Richard] Nixon, a right-wing republican can go to Communist China why can't the next presidency say 'I don't like Iran but we are going to have normal diplomatic and trading relations with them'?"
Robin Oakley is European Political Editor, CNN
|
