President Obama has little regard for the purported special relationship between the UK and the US. But his apparent disaffection manifests more in style than in substance.
The UK-US special relationship
Obama famously basked in Europe’s embrace during his presidential campaign. That the UK felt snubbed looking on is understandable. But even I saw the limitations of all that hype. That’s why I cautioned against reading too much into it in “Beware Barack, Don’t Believe the Hype” on July 27, 2008.
Much was made of Obama inviting the Indian prime minister for his first state dinner. But Ronald Reagan is the only president to invite the UK prime minister for his first state dinner since Ulysses S. Grant hosted the first one in 1874.
Obama finally tapped the UK prime minister, Gordon Brown, for his sixth state dinner in 2012, just before the end of his first term. And even then, Obama reportedly treated him more like the leader of a banana republic than a special friend.
Reporters cited, among other things, Obama’s refusal to hold the customary joint press conference. That even led me to join the ridicule with “End of Special Relationship” on September 25, 2009.
Reports of the end are greatly exaggerated
The UK might feel like a woman scorned. And piling-on reports about the diminishing nature of this relationship do not help. That might explain why the UK Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) published a report to counter the prevailing narrative.
The report is titled, forthrightly enough, “The basis and nature of the UK-US relationship.” The FAC published it on March 18, 2010.
Among other things, it found that:
The perception that the British government was a subservient ‘poodle’ to the US administration leading up to the period of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath is widespread both among the British public and overseas. …
[U]nder the Obama administration there is a significantly greater degree of alignment with the UK on a number of key policy areas. However, as is perhaps inevitable, there remain some key areas of British interest where policies continue to diverge.
Among other things, it concluded that:
Recent minor disagreements [i.e., on matters of style] between the UK and US do not in any way threaten the underlying strength of the bilateral relationship. … [T]he UK has an extremely close and valuable relationship with the US in specific areas of co-operation. …
However, the use of the phrase ‘the special relationship’ in its historical sense, to describe the totality of the ever-evolving UK-US relationship, is potentially misleading, and we recommend that its use should be avoided.
I suppose this is the very British way for a scorned woman to say, ‘You can’t dump me; I’m leaving you,’ eh?
The UK wants respect
I agree with the findings and conclusions in this FAC report. But I understand why most pundits are framing it as a UK bill of particulars against the uppity Obama. They insinuate that the UK is effectively saying to the US, “Fuck you, too.”
However, in the September 2009 commentary I cited above, even I argued that the phrase “special relationship” is outdated. I also admonished Obama, saying that treating the UK prime minister so shabbily hardly enhances the US’s reputation or furthers its interests.
So, there’s no denying that the UK and US still have “a special relationship.” It’s just no longer the special relationship it once was.
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