At least one well-known and powerful political conservative would vote for President Obama—if he (the conservative, not Obama)—were American. The Telegraph reports:
At a state dinner in Washington, the Prime Minister [David Cameron] likened Mr Obama to Theodore Roosevelt, one of the most respected and reforming presidents of the 20th century.
Mr Cameron said that Mr Obama had “pressed the reset button on the moral authority of the entire free world”. The comments were interpreted by the official White House reporter covering the dinner as “essentially an endorsement of another four years of Obama”.
It’s not hard to imagine that some of President Obama’s critics might well agree that he has indeed pressed the reset button on the moral authority of the entire free world. But not in quite the manner that the earnest, bedazzled Mr. Cameron imagines.
The comments were made in the toasts proposed by the world leaders during the dinner at the White House. The Prime Minister and his wife, Samantha, sat at the head table with the Obamas and celebrities including George Clooney, the actor, who was seated next to the First Lady. Damian Lewis, the British-born star of the Homeland televsion series, and Warren Buffett, the billionaire financier, sat opposite Mr Cameron.
In other words, there was an actor who plays the role of handsome political adornment, a British conservative who plays the role of adoring American liberal, and a tax-avoiding billonaire who plays the role of pontificating tax-hiking cheerleader.
Toby Harnden of The Mail finds Cameron’s craven adulation—”embarrassing fawning”, he calls it—to be a bit much:
What David Cameron described as his “guys night out” watching basketball with President Barack Obama in the swing state of Ohio was cheesy and embarrassing enough. But has there ever been a speech given by a British prime minister that was quite as cringeworthy as Cameron’s “toast” to Obama at last night’s State Dinner?
In a piece written prior to Cameron’s visit, Harnden stated:
The paradox for Obama is that while he is keen to appear statesmanlike by parading a foreign leader around the country, few Americans know who David Cameron is.
Oh, please. Give us some credit. Of course we know who Cameron is: he’s the director of Titanic andAvatar. Which explains why he is a such a big fan of Pres. Obama—that’s how nearly all of those Hollywood types act.
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