Just woke up from partying in Paris, and popped over to London to start on a pub crawl when I heard this news.Blair bailing out! Yet another bedrock political leader in Europe bites the dust!Man, ‘tis the season for change all over the Old World apparently.Check it:
The US’ greatest lapdog is bowing out, as in bow-wow-wowing out—pun intended my plaid friends!Where or where will the US ever find such a loyal pooch to blindly follow them into armed adventures across the globe.Hmmm…maybe the Japanese after they scrap their pacifist constitution…or maybe the Australians after they triple their population!Who knows?One thing is for sure: the Brits won’t be quite as bold supporters of US bombings from here on out.But I digress, let’s back up the cart…
Prime Minister Tony Blair has been leading Great Britain for a decade straight, and helped his political party win three successive elections—that would be the Labour Party to the unfamiliar.The Labour Party can be likened to the DemocraticParty here in the US.And we can go one step further in the analogy: Tony Blair was/is the British version of Bill Clinton.Both dudes are center-left, socially liberal, youngish, handsome, slick speaking, eye-candy politicians who ushered in a new younger, hipper, liberal age into both countries roughly at the same time.While the US turned back to the conservative Republicans in 2000, the UK has remained staunchly in the hands of the liberal Labour crew.Bill and Blair were bosom buddies back in the day…and in the days since, Blair has continued his cozy relationship with the US even under the Bush administration…and perhaps that is why he is bailing out right now.
Blair bailing because of Bush? Many would interpret events that way.Blair’s unwavering support for the Bush-led US war in Iraq has been extremely unpopular in the pubs and soccer fields of the Kingdom.Lots of folks now believe that even though Blair may has done very well overall for Britain over the years, he is going to be remembered solely for the Iraq debacle. Specifically, many in the Labour Party have wanted Tony to step down for a while now, so as to distance the Party from the Middle Eastern mess—especially since Labour has been losing support, and seats, for the last year.And that’s too bad, because under Tony’s tutelage the UK has done quite well economically, socially, and internationally. Blair, and Brown, have helped more often than hindered in places like Africa, China, India, et al.But who is this Brown fellow?
Gordon Brown aka ‘Brown Sugar’ is the long-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK—the guy who holds the purse strings of the government.He has served in this role under Tony Blair for the last decade—in fact these guys were buddies even before they achieved the top spots of UK leadership.And Brown has another distinction: he has dominated the domestic political agenda like no one before him.Brown is the one largely responsible for the economic success of the country today—and he is the shoe-in to become the next Prime Minister!
Kind of dumpy, plainly dressed, goofy hair, toothy grin: he is the exact opposite of the glibly slick and TV-ready Blair.But old Gordon is much more of a thinker than Tony, as evidenced by the financial state and competitiveness of the UK, and as such may be much more elusive when it comes to staunchly supporting the US.The Plaid Avenger predicts that the British lapdog is soon to be jumping off the trousers of Uncle Sam—the puppy is not going to leave the house, mind you, it’s just not going to be on the lap.Brown is reserved and plays his cards close to the chest, and while is has publicly supported the US, the Bushies, and the War on Terror, I believe he is now going to be trying to associate the ‘Iraq-capades’ distinctly with Blair.He is not going to abandon the US, but will draw a distinct line with the Iraq War deal making it very clear what his government will and will not do in the future—and increasing troops is NOT going to be on the table for discussion. Ever.
So know this:Brown knows that his buddy Blair and his Labour Party have taken a rap for their lapdog role, and he is getting ready to reign in the leash.Just at a time when the Frenchies may be more accommodating to the US-led role in the war (remember, they just elected a conservative president—Sarkozy).How bizarre is that?
Maybe Tony can now join me for that pub crawl since he’s got nothing better to do.British Real Ale—can you get anything real-er than that? Look it up my Plaid friends!It’s the good shit!
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