I have to hand it to the president; he easily came up with the best way to fix the ruffled feathers with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown – by reaching out to Opposition Leader David Cameron (London Telegraph):
It appears that President Barack Obama can read the pollsand see that the writing is on the wall for Gordon Brown. The White House has just confirmed that President Obama will meet David Cameron, on course to succeed Brown as Prime Minister next year, in London on Wednesday.
Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, said during a press conference call that Mr Obama’s first full day in the British capital will include bilaterals with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and President Hu Jintao of China.
He added that there would also be “important meetings with the Right Honourable David Cameron, leader of the Conservative pary (sic), and with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”.
Now, I’m not sure putting Cameron ahead of the queen was the wisest move, but more to the point, Obama has fundamentally changed the nature of all his previous faux pas with Brown.
As I had noted earlier, I read quite a bit of the British blogosphere (albeit almost exclusively on the right side), and the reaction over there has made it clear that Obama’s snubs of Brown - intentional or not – simply do not generate the outrage they have over here.
Yet, now, even those Brits who would be miffed at Obama’s previous actions will look at this and say, in effect, “Oh, I got it; he just can’t stand Gordon.” Given that at least 2/3 of voters on the Isle of Britain are itching to send Brown packing, that is a perception the president can certainly afford to project.
The only problem is this: Gordon Brown will probably by PM for another year, meaning we could have more trans-Atlantic incidents for a while. Still, so long as the British people assume or understand that Obama is just waiting Brown out (as they are), the long-term damage should be minimal to non-existent.
[...] It is impossible to underestimate how unpopular the Brown government is – not even the painful snubs handed out by the Obama Administration could bring Britons to come to Brown’s [...]