Why we shouldn’t be fawning over Obama

By Jonathan Roberts / @robertsjonathan

I logged onto Twitter earlier and, I have to say, was rather embarrassed by the sheer volume of MPs fawning over Barack Obama.

Don’t get me wrong. I flew across an ocean in 2008 to give the man a helping hand, helping to train volunteers and develop campaigning strategies for towns along the I4 corridor of Florida (an area vital to the Floridian campaign, and therefore, the national one). I was proud to take part.

But when you see such sycophantic wall-to-wall coverage, and our elected representatives fighting over each other to just to see The Chosen One, you have to wonder how we will make it through the rest of the visit without puking.

Some in the Labour Party have tried to make political capital out of what Obama said to Cameron on XYZ. My message to them is to grow up. If Cameron is wrong, it is for us in the Labour Party to prove it, not President Obama.

As we have heard a gazillion times in the last 24 hours, there is a genuine warmth between our countries. Our shared history and values; our mutual fascination and respect. All of these things are great. It is good for us both to know that we will have each other’s backs in times of need, be it in 1941 or 2001. It is also good to know of our strong military, intelligence and commercial ties – our security and economy depends on them. But we have strong ties with many other countries too, and in a globalised economy, America is no longer the be-all and end-all.

As Wikileaks told us, the Americans do not view our relationship as being all that special, so when I see Mr Obama using the term ‘special relationship’, I can’t help but think he’s only doing so because his advisers have asked him to keep up the pretence, because them funny Brits like to think they’re important.

Well, actually Britain is important. Despite being a tiny little island, we have one of the largest economies in the world. We have one of the most powerful militaries in the world. We are one of the most compassionate countries in the world.

Other countries have modelled themselves on us. We give a huge amount to developing countries. We lead the way in academia, scientific research and medical advances. We strive to take care of our sick and poor in a fair way.

This country has so much to be proud of – so we should have the confidence to be proud of who we are, what we have achieved and what we will achieve in the future. And we should do so without seeking the endorsement of a foreign President.