David Cameron: 'You complete me, Barack'

In a speech that can only be described as creepy, David Cameron appeared to endorse Barack Obama’s re-election last night. Standing in front of a grand piano covered in candles (some of us were half expecting the Prime Minister to break into a chorus of “Stay” by Shakespeare’s Sister), he compared the President to Theodore Roosevelt and said, “It is a pleasure to work with someone with moral strength, with clear reason and with fundamental decency in this task of renewing our great national alliance.”did you think the US was the only country with politicians who are liars and morons. think again

All of this is very odd behaviour, for three reasons. First, Obama’s foreign policy has certainly not “pressed the reset button on the moral authority of the entire free world” – whatever the heck that is supposed to mean. If anything, it’s more like he’s hit pause. Guantanamo Bay has remained open and military trials of terrorist suspects continue. Drone attacks are up and the withdrawal from Afghanistan has been painfully slow. Obama’s handling of the Arab Spring was uncertain and may have heralded a new generation of “democratic” Islamist governments that intimidate women and smash up Christian graveyards. Sure, the President hasn’t gone as far as to arrive in Cairo with a shipload of arms dealers looking for business, but Mother Theresa he ain’t.

Second, why is Cameron alienating himself from the American Right? This trip he has failed to meet with any of the Republican leaders and studiously avoided mentioning conservative heroes in his speech (Roosevelt was a Republican but he wasn’t a conservative). This is despite the fact that Cameron’s fiscal policy has been lauded by the Right and is a study in contrasts with Obama’s. There’s still a 50/50 chance that Mitt Romney will be President come November, so it seems pretty strange to ignore a potential friend like this.

Third, Obama has actually treated Britain a little shoddily. As Nile Gardiner points out, he has sided with Argentina over the Falklands, confused England with Britain, identified France as America’s “stronger ally” and refused to meet with Gordon Brown for one-on-one talks. This visit should have been an opportunity for Cameron to reassert some of Britain’s “moral strength” and “clear reason.” But instead of making a case for the UK as a major player in world affairs, the Prime Minister has behaved as if we really are as unworthy of diplomatic attention as the White House behaves – reduced to being a prop in a re-election campaign.

And make no mistake about it, Obama has used Cameron’s visit to line his campaign’s pockets. In total, 41 of the 364 guests last night were Obama donors who give the legal maximum in contributions. Together, they have been responsible for at least $10.7 million of the roughly $250 million Obama and Democrats have raised for 2012 thus far.

But I’m not sure that Cameron realises what is going on. It seems likely that, like many UK Conservatives, he actually identifies more with the US Left than its resurgent Right. On gay marriage, environmental policy, preservation of the welfare/warfare state, abortion and a whole host of issues they two men are old-fashioned progressives. They both believe that government can and should make things better and that human rights are measured in a plethora of liberties sanctioned by the swinging sixties. It wouldn’t have shocked the world if Cameron had turned to Obama at the end of his speech and said – with some accuracy – “Mr President… you complete me.”