Obama shows patience in the face of pomp and ping-pong

The US president survived needy Europeans, unseasonably high winds and a high-risk table-tennis match Considering that American presidents have been crossing the Atlantic to rescue ungrateful Europeans for almost a century now, Michelle and Barack Obama showed admirable forbearance in the face of all the pomp, circumstance and table-tennis balls that cash-strapped Britain could hurl at them. It’s not as if the US is omnipotent or awash with funds itself any more. But those Europeans always have their hands out. They cut their own armed forces but expect Washington to provide more hardware to sort out Gaddafi. They mess up their own currency and look to IMF funds to sort out the mess. David Cameron is hoping Obama will endorse his own cuts strategy. He has already lured him into a high-risk table-tennis match. Even in his ancestral home of Moneygall, County Offaly, the president didn’t get any change when he paid cash for the Guinness. Irish rain and Icelandic ash had forced the 1,500-strong White House party to take refuge in London 12 hours early. At the official start of their state visit the president and his wife were now obliged to cope with a show of unseasonably cold wind, sweeping across the Buckingham Palace lawn as if it was the tail-end of the Missouri tornado. The Queen was sensibly dressed, as usual, for the ritual Guard of Honour, but poor Michelle Obama had clearly been told the British were enjoying a warm spring this year. As her husband inspected the 101 members of the 1st battalion of the Scots Guards (“is this all the armed forces they’ve got left?”) she clung to the billowing skirt of her summer dress as if Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been spotted in the bushes. In practical terms, this was the lightest of the Obamas’ six-day European foray. They enjoyed a leisurely start at Winfield House – the US ambassador’s private garden is central London’s biggest after HMQ’s and ambassador Louis Susman is an old Chicago pal. But business before pleasure. Who should arrive in their Roller to break up the schmooze, but Prince Charles and Camilla – who had been planning to greet Obama and his wife at Stansted, had volcanic ash not intervened on the flightplan. Obama took the precaution of talking to White House reporters (an essential component of the imperial travelling court) about the devastating tornado in Joplin, Missouri. The couple then left for the palace in “The Beast,” the president’s armour-plated limo – it can withstand a direct hit by a missile or Sarah Palin – and their 15-car convoy, modest by Washington standards, slipped through London, assisted by the 5,000 Met police officers earning overtime. The combination of Britain’s hereditary monarch and America’s elected version is enough to make otherwise sane TV reporters quite light-headed. All day they assured their viewers that the Obamas – who came up the hard way and have good reason to be cool towards Britain, as most of the 43 previous presidents did not – already feel London is a second home. On the strength of two or three meetings their strong mutual affection for the Queen, 85, and her consort, 89, is an established TV fact. What do they talk about? The countryside, gardening and clothes, according to one report. There may even be a germ of truth in it, for they are all gracious people, even the Duke on his best behaviour. “Nice to see you, sir,” said the president after clasping the Queen in a prolonged double handshake. No hugs from Mrs Obama on this occasion. In any case, there was an extra attraction. The Obamas may be relative newcomers to palace life, but the former Kate Middleton still needs help finding the loos. So up she popped in the stately 1844 room, the new Duchess of Cambridge newly-returned from honeymoon with her spouse. People addressed as “Duke” in Chicago are usually jazzmen, but Prince William is a helicopter pilot. They talked privately for 20 minutes, a gaffe-free debut unless the tabloids had the room wired. But Kate was seen to touch her tummy. That will do for the media pack. The day’s stately progress proceeded to plan, albeit with added wind and looming ash: the Guard of Honour with the band playing The Star Spangled Banner (it celebrates a defeat for the British in the war of 1812), lunch and a quick tour of the Royal Collection, escorted by the boss herself. Poring over details of the loss the 13 American colonies (“America is lost” noted George III) Obama dismissed it as “a temporary blip in the relationship”. Brits are neurotically sensitive about the “special relationship,” so there must have been relief all round. Out of intensive care until the next imagined snub. Appropriate gifts were exchanged – including copies of Queen Victoria’s lively letters to successive presidents – without the kind of incident that almost led to war when Gordon Brown gave the president all Britain’s gold reserves and in return was given DVDs and a family meal voucher for McDonalds. Prince Charles got some seeds to talk to. Spot on! David Cameron had briefly to be fitted in, so did Ed Miliband. But what with the trip to Westminster Abbey – laying a wreath on the tomb of the unknown warrior is de rigueur for state visits – they started running late. In his reflective moment as the choir sang, did Obama have time to recall that Harry Truman, the first US president his royal host had met, was once a frontline soldier in that war? Obama (he’s got a lot on his mind) signed the visitors book “May 24, 2008.” Undeterred the crowds outside called “we love you, we love you,” in sharp contrast to the jeers which hounded George W Bush in 2003. Those Europeans prefer Democrats to cowboys. Cameron further slowed progress by shipping his visitor off to the Globe Academy (opened by Ed Balls in 2008) in Southwark, surely not to cramp Miliband’s moment? No, even Tory posh boys are aware of the Obama CV which makes them keener than ever to trumpet social mobility, not one of the Queen’s strongest suits. They risked being photographed playing table tennis, normally a no-win situation for politicians, even if the host gallantly loses on purpose. This time the pair cunningly played pupils and high-fived their best shots. Handy material for the election file, a win-win after all for the “essential relationship.” No table tennis for Miliband, but he had his meeting in the end, searching for some reflected Obama optimism to share. After that a quick shower for the visitors in Buck House’s Belgian Suite – named after Africa’s most notorious colonialist regime – and that state dinner. What could possibly go wrong? In the Europe of 2011, anything. Barack Obama Europe Michael White guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.