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Gordon Brown cozies up to neoconservative Democrats |
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Michael Carmichael, 23 April 2006
Bob Shrum |
As is well established, Gordon Brown is Tony Blair's heir
apparent. Currently Chancellor of the Exchequer, Brown has
developed a perplexingly close personal relationship with Bob Shrum, a
US political consultant who has been vilified by the Democratic Party's
rank-and-file because of his disastrous involvements in eight losing
presidential campaigns.
According to the latest reports, Shrum has visited London recently to
discuss his role in Brown's next political campaign for the office of
Prime Minister of Great Britain. This emerging relationship could
trigger an outcry from the Labour rank-and-file, who must wish for a
fresh perspective from their chief political consultants rather than
the stale and uninspiring track record of Shrum.
As we all know, Shrum was the principal architect of the systematic
homogenisation of past Democratic campaigns which has made the Party
and its leading candidates all but unelectable in recent years.
Another American consultant with a disturbingly consistent record of
losses, Stanley Greenberg, was summoned to London for a crisis meeting
in February when polls revealed a sharp reinvigoration of support for
the Conservatives under the guidance of their new leader, David
Cameron.
Both Shrum and Greenberg are stalwart doyens of the Democratic
Leadership Council (DLC), the right-leaning pressure group that has
faithfully supported the neoconservative agenda of the Bush-Cheney
era. In recent years, the DLC has been demonised by the rank-and-file
members of the Democratic Party who are far more progressive than the
senior right-leaning generation of Democrats including: the Clintons,
Joseph Lieberman, Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Tom Vilsack and Barack Obama,
who has disappointed his supporters by his consistent trait of tacking
to the right.
Today, the UK press is replete with images of David Cameron driving a
dog sled over an arctic glacier in search of a greener policy than that
of Brown's Labour Party. The political profile of Brown linked below
will do little to inspire confidence that he is the man to contend for
the premiership against the intrepid Cameron.
To raise even more concerns among progressives on both sides of the
Atlantic, in his most recent public statements Brown has endorsed the
war on terror. At the same time, Foreign Minister, Jack Straw has
distanced himself from the US planning for a concentrated bombing
campaign against Iran. The war in Iraq is a keystone legacy of Blair,
but there are growing concerns that Brown may well decide to reject the
mysteriously beguiling embrace of George Bush and his neoconservative
foreign policy if he senses a shifting in the political winds.
Even with these complexities, the probability that both the US and the
UK will stagger onward under the domination of neoconservative regimes
for years to come is beginning to dawn on an increasing proportion of
the Party faithful on both sides of the Atlantic.
Reference
White House struggles to read the intellectual who may come to stay, by Tom Baldwin, The Times, 21str April 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2144520_1,00.html
Michael Carmichael has been a professional public affairs consultant, author and broadcaster since 1968. Michael is a board member of the European Association of Political Consultants.
In 2003, he founded The Planetary Movement Limited, a global public
affairs organization based in the United Kingdom. He has appeared as a
public affairs expert on the BBC's Today Programme, Hardtalk, PM, as
well as numerous appearances on ITN, NPR and many European broadcasts
examining politics and culture. He can be reached through his website: http://www.planetarymovement.org/
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