I’m glad to see that President Obama cited the special relationship with the UK in his remarks on David Cameron’s election as Prime Minister:
As I told the Prime Minister, the United States has no closer friend and ally than the United Kingdom, and I reiterated my deep and personal commitment to the special relationship between our two countries – a bond that has endured for generations and across party lines, and that is essential to the security and prosperity of our two countries, and the world.
Obama’s damage to US-UK relations was very nearly disastrous. If Brown had succeeded in clinging to power in a Lib-Lab coalition (which he nearly did), it would have given Nick Clegg a lot of influence over foreign policy. Clegg is openly skeptical of the special relationship, citing Obama’s disdain as justification.
As a minimum, Obama needed to deliver some remarks as he did today. We’ll see where Obama and Cameron go from here.
