The US Ain't Us

Published: 13/10/2008

The US Ain’t Us.

The UK is, understandably, mesmerised by the US presidential election. The result will affect all our futures. But is it too much already? Vast resources go into the coverage leading to a fabricated, even forced identification with the hyper-power; a euphoric mood is daily whipped up by fervently Atlanticist pundits. Question the US and you are slammed for ‘anti-Americanism’. There are no equivalent sneers for those who, say criticise Russia or India. It is as if this country is an extension of the States. And it is not, defiantly, patently not. In fact the more this drama unfolds, the more intensely aware we become of how different we are. The ocean between us is physical and ITAL PREVIOUS cultural.

Two obvious observations ensue. It will be decades before Britain elevates a man of African ancestry to the position that Obama has reached. On this, the US has shown us a face that is wholly to be admired, impossible to reproduce on these isles, as yet. (If you can imagine such a possibility sooner, you are blessed with extraordinary, I would say, unrealistic optimism.) On the other hand, we Britons would never cheer on to teetering heights, a Sarah Palin either. One reason is ingrained sexism- why the deputy PM Harriet Harman is never given the respect she deserves. But also because British voters do not fall for the folksy and homely. What would we do if Theresa May started winking and acting cutsie or Ruth Kelly brought her sprogs to hustings? It is unthinkable. The Tory MEP, Daniel Hayman is critical of the ‘ elitist, anti-populist nature of British democracy’. Many of us are grateful for the serious standards maintained.

There is much to envy and admire in Jeffersonian democracy- its localism, liveliness, the way it engages citizens, the unpredictable and serious primaries. Britain does not manage as well the crucial balance between the majority will and minority entitlements. No decent democracy surrenders wholly to the first. Our system, by contrast feels exhausted at times, stitched up by the powerful and the result is growing dejection. It may prove lethal one day, this disenchantment. I do think though that some scepticism is necessary. Too many Americans believe the lies of their masters and did in the build up to Iraq. They have West Wing; we have The Thick of It and Yes Minister. I know which I prefer. And let us hope and pray that we will never have to endure the abusive and ignorant broadcasts perfected by their shock jocks.

This spring I went to the US for the first time since 9/11. It was good to go back and remember how exciting and inspiring is the country at its best. Yet culturally it felt more foreign than I remember, Starbucks and McDonalds notwithstanding. The shared language is diverging. Sometimes I had to ask what was meant, thwarted by the speed, vocabulary and embedded assumptions. With everyone from Stephen Fry to Simon Schama extolling the great US of A in new books and TV series, it is as well to remember that many of us feel about the country more like Louis Theroux, admiring, yet befuddled. In Italy and Spain, many Britons feel less alien in spite of the barriers of language.

Reluctant Europeans we may be, but we have made common cause with EU nations on many key issues - abortion, gay rights, human rights, the place of religion in politics, international relations, climate change, and creationism. Some minorities may object to the settlements reached but we do not have the violent, sometimes murderous clashes of values dividing Americans today over all the items on the list above. Most important of all, I sense that history is passing and millions of Britons no longer want this special relationship. They believe the obsession with the US has brought grief, and is excessive. And I think they have a point.

Published in The Independent