Britain’s Brown Professes To Love America
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LONDON — Gordon Brown may love America and American TV, but whether the feeling is reciprocated is another matter altogether. For all the tips the prime minister is said to have received from Tony Blair before his latest visit to America, Mr. Brown is a long way from winning the battle for American hearts and minds.
It is not that his personal affection for America is in any doubt. As he made clear during his interview this week with the doyenne of American television news hosts, Katie Couric, “I’m very pro-American and I’ve always been so.” He described Boston, one of the cities he will visit during his three-day visit as “a great city with connections to the U.K.,” and he said there was nothing he likes better than to take his family holiday at Cape Cod. “Everybody’s very kind, partly village life and partly you have access to all the facilities in the world.” Interviewed the following morning on CBS’s “Good Morning America” news show, Mr. Brown got so carried away with his Americanophilia that he found himself gushing, “I love America and I love American TV.” Nobody even seemed to mind when Mr. Brown claimed that he and Tony Blair were “very good friends,” a view few Blairites would endorse given that Mr. Blair’s premature Downing Street exit was brought about by Mr. Brown’s relentless campaign to replace him.
But then the fact that Mr. Brown took over from Mr. Blair as prime minister nine months ago has barely registered on the average American’s radar. Even President Bush, when asked recently what he thought of the PM, instinctively started talking in glowing terms about Mr. Blair.
To replace Mr. Blair in the affections of both the White House and middle America was always going to be a tough call, but Mr. Brown’s performance has not helped his cause. Last summer, during his first official get together with the American president at Camp David, he gave the clear impression that he would far rather be somewhere else.
At the recent North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Bucharest, Mr. Brown’s encounters with Mr. Bush were formal but never matched the natural warmth of the president’s dealings with Mr. Blair.
