American excitement gives way to anxiety and foreboding

Gary Younge in New York
Tuesday November 18, 2003
The Guardian

Since David Blaine left his box overlooking the river Thames the American media's interest in Britain has rarely strayed beyond Tony Blair's support for the war in Iraq, and the monarchy. So it is little surprise that the visit of the United States president, George Bush, is the talk of the airwaves and a subject worthy of the front pages.

But where there once would have been excitement there is only anxiety.

"This is not a prediction but a terrible foreboding," writes David Frum, Mr Bush's former speechwriter who claimed credit for the phrase "axis of evil", in the rightwing weekly The National Review.

"I fear that President Bush's imminent state visit to the United Kingdom is shaping up as one of the worst media debacles of his presidency."

Mr Frum's analysis of the reasons for the dire predictions is not an uncommon view among Americans. "President Bush is not widely popular in Britain," he writes. "He will not receive a warm welcome from the larger British public."

Newsweek goes further: "What Blair needs to do is distance himself from Bush, not hug him close."

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printed from American excitement gives way to anxiety and foreboding on 2004-02-23 11:57:12