Martin Kettle: What Hadrian can teach Obama
[Martin Kettle writes for the Guardian on British, European and American politics, as well as the media, law and music.]
As you know, senator, there are two main objects of your day in London. One is to gladhand some of those big campaign donors who are allowed to live in the UK tax-free and so still have serious money in the bank to offer you. The second, of course, is to be seen by Americans in a setting that tells them you are already a leader on the world stage.
Unfortunately, no one Stateside can recognise this new gloomy Gordon Brown guy or that preppy David Cameron fellow who is lining up to succeed him. That's why we've fixed the session with Tony Blair, since most Americans think he's still the man in charge there anyway. And it's why we want you to do that press availability in front of the No 10 door as well. That should send all the right messages for the weekend talkshows.
However, senator, we also now advise a late change to your London schedule. The truth is that you have a lot more to offer the UK politicians than they have to offer you. So we propose cutting back your facetime with Brown and the rest in favour of something much more photogenic that we think would benefit you more. That something is a visit to the British Museum's brand new exhibition about the Emperor Hadrian. This may seem a bit left-field but here's the reason why it couldn't be more relevant to you today.
You see, senator, Hadrian's predecessor Trajan had staked everything on conquering Mesopotamia, which of course is the modern Iraq. At first Trajan successfully persuaded Romans that the war was going well, but in fact the mission was overstretched and gradually his campaign was undermined by a widespread local insurgency. So when Hadrian became emperor of Rome in 117 AD, just about the first thing he did after his inauguration was to withdraw the Roman legions from Mesopotamia, Assyria and Greater Armenia. All this came as a shock to the Roman psyche, which had been nurtured on endless tales of triumph, but in the end it made much better sense to bring the boys home. It meant Hadrian was able to consolidate Rome's boundaries and concentrate on the military campaigns that truly threatened Rome's security...
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
As you know, senator, there are two main objects of your day in London. One is to gladhand some of those big campaign donors who are allowed to live in the UK tax-free and so still have serious money in the bank to offer you. The second, of course, is to be seen by Americans in a setting that tells them you are already a leader on the world stage.
Unfortunately, no one Stateside can recognise this new gloomy Gordon Brown guy or that preppy David Cameron fellow who is lining up to succeed him. That's why we've fixed the session with Tony Blair, since most Americans think he's still the man in charge there anyway. And it's why we want you to do that press availability in front of the No 10 door as well. That should send all the right messages for the weekend talkshows.
However, senator, we also now advise a late change to your London schedule. The truth is that you have a lot more to offer the UK politicians than they have to offer you. So we propose cutting back your facetime with Brown and the rest in favour of something much more photogenic that we think would benefit you more. That something is a visit to the British Museum's brand new exhibition about the Emperor Hadrian. This may seem a bit left-field but here's the reason why it couldn't be more relevant to you today.
You see, senator, Hadrian's predecessor Trajan had staked everything on conquering Mesopotamia, which of course is the modern Iraq. At first Trajan successfully persuaded Romans that the war was going well, but in fact the mission was overstretched and gradually his campaign was undermined by a widespread local insurgency. So when Hadrian became emperor of Rome in 117 AD, just about the first thing he did after his inauguration was to withdraw the Roman legions from Mesopotamia, Assyria and Greater Armenia. All this came as a shock to the Roman psyche, which had been nurtured on endless tales of triumph, but in the end it made much better sense to bring the boys home. It meant Hadrian was able to consolidate Rome's boundaries and concentrate on the military campaigns that truly threatened Rome's security...