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Distance makes the heart grow fonder

6 comments on Distance makes the heart grow fonder

Distance makes the heart grow fonder
: Right now in the U.S., we are singing a chorus of Tony Blair’s praises. Meanwhile, in Britain, sharks in his own party are circling, hoping to kill him.

Of course, with Bill Clinton, it was just the opposite. Just as people here were trying to run him out of office, over there, they admired him.

Either we’re ignorant of the real Blair and they were ignorant of the real Clinton or it’s something else: Distance let’s statesman be statesman. Distance lets them rise above the petty sniping of politics. Distance — like time — puts them in a truer perspective.

Britain is wrong about Blair. We’re right.

6 responses to “Distance makes the heart grow fonder”

  1. A Reader Avatar
    A Reader

    How about the other guy? Do you think they were right about Clinton?
    I think there are yards…wait…miles…no…light years between Blair and Clinton. When I listen to Blair I get the feeling of someone who “gets” the big picture who would sacrifice his position for something right. A principled liberal.
    When I hear Clinton, I just want to shower.

  2. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    I think it might have something to do with the fact that we only deal with Blair vis a vis his foreign policies. The British people, on the other hand, have to deal with his domestic policies, which have involved creating a quasi-socialist, civil liberties-violating nanny state that has done nothing to deal with soaring crime and rapidly decaying transportation and health care systems, and is continuously looking for ways to sell out the UK’s sovreignity to the EU. All while Blair and his crew find a million and one ways to spin these problems to the British public.
    If we had to deal with that version of Tony Blair, we might be a bit more ambivalent about him as well.

  3. jennetic Avatar
    jennetic

    Blair is amazing. When we get the opportunity to hear him in his political speech, we Americans are blown away. No one in the US government comes close to the elegance, grace, and logic of Blair. My faith in American politics would be reignited if a man of Blair’s talent and caliber (in logic and oratory techniques) were to gain any office in the USA. I suspect that the “common man” would feel too distant to vote for someone like Blair in the USA.
    That said, we don’t live with the consequences of his governing regarding taxes, the EU, and so forth. Clinton was reviled by the Right in the US, but we re-elected. We will see whether Blair manages the to keep his office in the UK.

  4. jamie Avatar
    jamie

    Blair is not only reviled for his domestic policies – the majority of the British population did not support the war in Iraq and that has played a major role in the growing hostility towards him.

  5. Seyed Razavi Avatar
    Seyed Razavi

    Even men of conviction can be wrong. As Blair said, history will be his judge…
    But I suspect his execution will have more to do with his failure to deliver public services given the money pumped into it. The exaggerated nonesense of the first comment notwithstanding; education, healthcare and transportation are major problems for the UK which no government in the past 30 years has adequetely solved.
    Blair was untouchable in his first 5 years but now he’s in dangerous territory. The Iraq war alienated most of the grassroots Labour supporters and the middle Englanders are no doubt going to flip out if he follows through with the proposed hike in University tuition fees.
    The history books will probably find Blair a skilled orator, a vicar of a PM, an expert in political machination but a failed reformer and as a statesmen he codified what has been known for years: Britain is safest at America’s heels and its sole role relationship with the EU is economic.

  6. balbulican Avatar
    balbulican

    “Britain is wrong about Blair. We’re right.”
    I don’t think I’ve ever seen so elegant a distillation of American foreign policy as this. The country that elected Blair is “wrong” for wanting him to act according to the popular will: Blair is “right” because he agrees with George Bush.
    Well, I guess that makes as much sense as the notion that an American-appointed Iraqi governing council whose first act is to proclaim a holiday celebrating the American conquest and occupation represents the True Will Of the Iraqi People.
    You guys. What a zany buncha kidders.