President Obama and PM Gordon Brown Outline Global Economic Goals.
President Barack Obama hosted British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the first foreign head of state to visit the White House in the new Obama Adminsitration. Foremost on the agenda is the upcoming G-20 economic summit of advanced and developing nations meeting in London next month. Brown was laying the groundwork for the summit agenda, which he is chairing, and coordinating a global response is critical for improving global economic confidence, as well as improving his political prospects at home. With tough economic and political conditions in the UK, Brown hopes to benefit from Britons’ high regard for the American president, and to convey British leadership at a time of global economic uncertainty.
Brown is also delivering a tough economic message for the White House and Congressional lawmakers, whom he will address Wednesday. Sources indicate he will argue for a ‘global new deal’ — coordinating economic policy to ‘rescue’ the world from global recession. Brown has contended that “Globalization is not an option, it is a fact.” He is urging the United States to avoid protectionism at a time that it has populist appeal. That theme — along with the assertion of power, and a larger role in the global economic order by the emergent ‘Rising Powers’ economies — is l ikely to loom large at the London summit.
The president thanked Brown for British forces and their enormous sacrifices in Afghanistan. As for the war in Iraq, President Obama also noted: “Whether you were for or against the war here in the United States, the recognition of Great Britain’s friendship and standing tall with us during that period will never be forgotten.” Brown, in turn, lauded Obama for “his leadership and the inspiration he’s giving the world at this very difficult time.”
President Obama added that the US-Britain “partnership” is important to the American people, however, it appears significant to some that the president reserved higher superlatives for our northern neighbor, Canada — a closer economic ally, and a nation that more closely resembles the plurality of American society. Certainly, as demographics change in the U.S., questions must arise about the future of the Anglo-American “special relationship” being displaced. For more on this last topic, check out the video below.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5822265.ece
