Obama Report from Brit Ambassador...In the Torygraph

[Sibling Chatty]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3125120/Barack-Obama-is-aloof-says-British-ambassador-to-US.html

Barack Obama is a "decidedly liberal" senator "who was finding his feet, and then got diverted by his presidential ambitions", according to a frank verdict delivered to Gordon Brown by the British ambassador to the United States.

Sir Nigel Sheinwald, ambassador in Washington since last year, delivered his unvarnished assessment of the White House front runner in a seven-page letter to the Prime Minister, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, just before the Democratic nominee's visit to Downing Street just over two months ago.

The candid letter, marked as containing "sensitive judgements" and requesting officials to "protect the contents carefully" gives a remarkable insight into how the Foreign Office views the political phenomenon who stunned Mr Brown's inner circle by defeating their favourite, Hillary Clinton, in the Democratic primaries.

Although the picture Sir Nigel paints is a highly complimentary one - Mr Obama's speeches are "elegant" and "mesmerising", he is "highly intelligent" and has "star quality" - he also judges that his "policies are still evolving" and that if elected he will "have less of a track record than any recent president".

The letter's contents suggest that Mr Brown could initially find it difficult to deal with a President Obama because he remains a largely unknown quantity who "resists pigeon-holing" and the leak is likely to complicate relations.

Well, isn't THAT special??

[Griffin NoName]

Chatty, I appreciate the early warning on The Telegraph - unless Beagle met the milk train he probably hasn't seen it yet. 

....requesting officials to "protect the contents carefully"...

That was just asking for trouble !   Don't they know they have to use "Top Secret", "Do not Read", "For my eyes only" and such like?  And why wasn't it written in invisible ink?

if elected he will "have less of a track record than any recent president

Doh!

the leak is likely to complicate relations.

Oh Yeh Really?

Well, isn't THAT special??

Ever so. 

What is a "loof" ?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

It certainly gives some credence to the old anglo-saxon conspiracy...
---
Here is a full transcript of the letter.
I see 3 things:
1. The ambassador seems to be doing his work making an assessment of a potential president.
2. His views are quite judgmental, although I wonder if that is to be expected from an ambassador, and
3. Funny (and fine) time for a leak ain't it?
The whole affair leaves a bad taste, I wonder if the fact of this being leaked by the Torygraph makes it closer to some less reputable republican news services in the US (sorry beagle, I had to say it ).

[Griffin NoName]

Hmmm, just done some checking. This is already old news. BBC Online and Guardian Online had it yesterday - mid-evening? - both saying the letter was leaked to theTelegraph - and an enquiry already launched. It wasn't on the evening news though. There are so many things breaking here at present, I'm not sure how much profile this will actually be given here. The top stories still don't include it. Be interesting to see if/when that changes. At present, on the BBC site, "Help red squirrels, public urged" has a higher profile of course "red squirrels" could be a code word

[beagle]

Hmmm, just done some checking. This is already old news.

Yep, it was in the paper form of The Torygraph days ago. Did seriously consider posting about it but I've reached my Torygraph plug quota for the year, and at first sight  it didn't really seem in the Zimmerman telegram league.

I don't think the reactionaries club theory really flies.  For one thing it's a pretty favourable report card (though unless they leak the McCain/Palin report it's hard to assess the perceived relative merits of the candidates). Also the Torygraph as a whole doesn't appear to prefer one U.S. candidate  over another. Historically, (like the Tories), they're more aligned with Republicans, but both Obama and McCain are probably  to the right of Cameron's Tories, which is the Torygraph's readership base.

[Griffin NoName]

....both Obama and McCain are probably  to the right of Cameron's Tories, which is the Torygraph's readership base.

mutter, mutter, mutter..... to the right of where Cameron's Tories appear to be....... mutter, mutter, mutter 

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

What exactly would be the point of leaking this? Other than to make Brown's (or whoever's) life more difficult when dealing with the current administration, of course.

And I'm not going to lie, the letter is making me progressively more sure I'm making the right choice to vote for this man. He's running a campaign like I would and thinks like I want a president to think (or so he's shown).

16. Obama's big foreign policy/national security point, reiterated in his speech on 15 July, is that Bush's Iraq adventure...

I think I like Sir Nigel.

[Griffin NoName]

What exactly would be the point of leaking this?

None.

Unless you take into account:

Media Competition: we leak more leaks than you leak sung to a tune by Tom Paxton
Systemic Psychosis: never let up on forefronting doubts about what is really going on/being said, by whom to whom? you are the weakest link

....and not forgetting Historic Precedent. Did Mary Queen of Scots really receive a letter providing conclusive evidence implicating her in plots against Elizabeth I ?  (remember Gordy is Scottish). Never forget the Princes in the Tower, or What actually happened in that Paris tunnel ? and did David Kelly really commit suicide? etc. - lacking a Gulag, we have to maintain this National Sport or we'd lose out big time in the International stakes given our propensity to sit down and have a nice cup of tea. 

[beagle]

What exactly would be the point of leaking this?

None.

When there's no real news on Pete Doherty, Amy Winehouse, or swearing football managers our press has to find some filler.  It was probably this or a story about a skateboarding duck.

[Swatopluk]

http://www.simonespuppenmode.de/images/medium/18_ente_auf_skateboard_-_14x20_cm.jpg
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44688000/jpg/_44688743_duck226.jpg

[beagle]

So there is real news out there if you look for it...

[Swatopluk]

Beats Chemical Pete.
And Scarlett Marie Johansson was so indecent to marry in private without telling the press it seems.
(only partially  . She is active for Big O.)

[Griffin NoName]

One should be careful who one activates. Ref. Brown-Mandelson