The President while in Britain late this week, writes an editorial that pours cold water on Brexit
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/21/as-your-friend-let-me-tell-you-that-the-eu-makes-britain-even-gr/
This drew him criticism from some:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/04/22/mr-obamas-catchphrase-is-yes-you-can---so-why-is-he-telling-us-b/
Charles Moore and other on the Right seem to think the President doesn't have the right to even have a point of view on a British question. Ambrose Pritchard disagrees:
"Proud to have POTUS in our pages today. Obama entirely entitled to point of view on EU and European strategic order."
https://twitter.com/AmbroseEP/status/723449323820736513
"The reason those for Brexit didn't want Obama to voice an opinion is that it totally undercuts the whole premise for Brexit. The whole case for Brexit is that Britain will lose nothing in trade and prestige by leaving-it can pick up the slack by forming a new Anglophone allaince with the US and other English speaking countries."
But Obama comes and warns:
"Brexit would put UK 'back of the queue' for trade talks."
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-brexit-uk-back-of-queue-for-trade-talks
"America, he told his British audience – hence his use of “queue”, not “line” – likes the fact that Britain is already married: it works out really well for all three parties involved. His message was unambiguous. Don’t rush into a hasty divorce because you think we’re waiting for you with open arms. We’re not."
"At a stroke, he had crushed not only a core part of the leavers’ economic argument – that it’ll be a breeze for Britain to exit the EU and trade just as prosperously as a solo nation – but something bigger: the notion that a brighter, non-European future beckons. Obama burst that bubble."
"He also explained that of course he had the right to speak, despite Brexiteer Liam Fox’s letter signed by 100 MPs urging him to stay out of the EU debate. As Obama put it, since the leavers are offering “an opinion about what the US is going to do, I thought you might want to hear an opinion from the president of the United States on what the US is going to do”. And the opinion he gave was devastating."
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-crush-brexit-fantasy-eu-referendum
Some Brexiters grasped at straws dismissing these comments as coming from a lame duck.
However, here is what Hillary Clinton, by far his most likely successor,
https://electionbettingodds.com/week.html
has to say:
"After Barack Obama used his farewell trip to the UK as president to make the economic and security arguments for membership, Clinton, who is the favourite to win the Democratic nomination in July and become the first female US president, makes clear that if she enters the White House she will want the UK to be fully engaged, and leading the debate, within the EU."
"In a statement to the Observer, her senior policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “Hillary Clinton believes that transatlantic cooperation is essential, and that cooperation is strongest when Europe is united. She has always valued a strong United Kingdom in a strong EU. And she values a strong British voice in the EU.” Sources close to the former secretary of state’s campaign said she stood fully behind Obama’s opposition to Brexit, which the president said on Friday would not only undermine the international institutions, including the EU, that had bound nations closer together since 1945, but would also mean the UK being at “the back of the queue” when negotiating new trade deals."
"Obama’s remarks drew angry responses from leading figures in the Leave campaign, including the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who questioned the president’s right to intervene. Leading backers of Brexit also tried to dismiss Obama’s view as that of a “lame duck president” soon to be out of office."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/21/as-your-friend-let-me-tell-you-that-the-eu-makes-britain-even-gr/
This drew him criticism from some:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/04/22/mr-obamas-catchphrase-is-yes-you-can---so-why-is-he-telling-us-b/
Charles Moore and other on the Right seem to think the President doesn't have the right to even have a point of view on a British question. Ambrose Pritchard disagrees:
"Proud to have POTUS in our pages today. Obama entirely entitled to point of view on EU and European strategic order."
https://twitter.com/AmbroseEP/status/723449323820736513
"The reason those for Brexit didn't want Obama to voice an opinion is that it totally undercuts the whole premise for Brexit. The whole case for Brexit is that Britain will lose nothing in trade and prestige by leaving-it can pick up the slack by forming a new Anglophone allaince with the US and other English speaking countries."
But Obama comes and warns:
"Brexit would put UK 'back of the queue' for trade talks."
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-brexit-uk-back-of-queue-for-trade-talks
"America, he told his British audience – hence his use of “queue”, not “line” – likes the fact that Britain is already married: it works out really well for all three parties involved. His message was unambiguous. Don’t rush into a hasty divorce because you think we’re waiting for you with open arms. We’re not."
"At a stroke, he had crushed not only a core part of the leavers’ economic argument – that it’ll be a breeze for Britain to exit the EU and trade just as prosperously as a solo nation – but something bigger: the notion that a brighter, non-European future beckons. Obama burst that bubble."
"He also explained that of course he had the right to speak, despite Brexiteer Liam Fox’s letter signed by 100 MPs urging him to stay out of the EU debate. As Obama put it, since the leavers are offering “an opinion about what the US is going to do, I thought you might want to hear an opinion from the president of the United States on what the US is going to do”. And the opinion he gave was devastating."
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-crush-brexit-fantasy-eu-referendum
Some Brexiters grasped at straws dismissing these comments as coming from a lame duck.
However, here is what Hillary Clinton, by far his most likely successor,
https://electionbettingodds.com/week.html
has to say:
"After Barack Obama used his farewell trip to the UK as president to make the economic and security arguments for membership, Clinton, who is the favourite to win the Democratic nomination in July and become the first female US president, makes clear that if she enters the White House she will want the UK to be fully engaged, and leading the debate, within the EU."
"In a statement to the Observer, her senior policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “Hillary Clinton believes that transatlantic cooperation is essential, and that cooperation is strongest when Europe is united. She has always valued a strong United Kingdom in a strong EU. And she values a strong British voice in the EU.” Sources close to the former secretary of state’s campaign said she stood fully behind Obama’s opposition to Brexit, which the president said on Friday would not only undermine the international institutions, including the EU, that had bound nations closer together since 1945, but would also mean the UK being at “the back of the queue” when negotiating new trade deals."
"Obama’s remarks drew angry responses from leading figures in the Leave campaign, including the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who questioned the president’s right to intervene. Leading backers of Brexit also tried to dismiss Obama’s view as that of a “lame duck president” soon to be out of office."
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/23/hillary-clinton-britain-should-stay-in-eu
That kind of throws cold water on the idea that Obama's' point of view is just that of a lame duck. It suggests this is going to be the US point of view for a long time to come. Unless, Donald Trump is the next US President.
"The Conservative MP Damian Green, a board member of the Britain Stronger InEurope campaign and the chairman of European Mainstream, said: “This shows how misleading it is to say this is just the view of a president in his last days in office. It confirms that mainstream political opinion in the United States is in favour of Britain remaining in the EU, and that the transatlantic values that we share with the US are expressed most strongly in Europe by a fully engaged Britain.”
"A No 10 source said: “Not only do you have the serving US president setting out why the UK is better off staying in the EU, but now those who aspire to be president too. Hillary Clinton worked with the UK as secretary of state for a number of years and saw first hand how the UK’s influence was magnified by the role we played in the EU. When you face a big decision in life, most people listen to their friends, and we disregard such advice at our peril.”
Maybe the Brexit folks should bank on a President Trump
"The Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has not offered a view on whether he thinks the UK should stay in or leave the EU, although he has said he believes there is a good chance the British people will vote for Brexit, partly because of their unhappiness with levels of immigration."
So Hillary Clinton and President Obama for staying in the EU and Trump for Brexit. Brits, you have your choices.
Indeed, they kind of sound like Trump.
On refugees they agree with Trump. One big reason they are giving for Brexit is to stop the flow of Syrian refugees.
Some even go Birther on the President.
"Hence the Brexiteers’ fury. They know how badly Obama’s words undermine their case, especially after what has been a week from hell for the out campaign. One that ended in the absurdity of a Ukip MEP, Mike Hookem, lurching into full-bore anti-Americanism, winding the clock back to 1939 to argue that the US had it in for us even then, seeing the second world war as a way of “smashing the UK’s influence in the world”. When a party defined by its loathing of the EU finds itself attacking the US, you know things have gone awry."
"The same is true of Boris Johnson’s Sun screed, which dipped into Donald Trump’s Bumper Book of Political Wisdom to suggest that the “half-Kenyan” president cannot be trusted because he is filled with “ancestral” loathing of Britain."
"What an interesting choice of word that “ancestral” was. Not “post-colonial”, which would have located this supposed antipathy in the 20th century, but “ancestral” to be run alongside “half-Kenyan”. It was a reminder of the brilliant slapdown Obama once issued to Trump, when the tycoon was demanding to see Obama’s birth certificate. From the podium at the 2011 White House correspondents’ dinner, Obama said he could go one better and show his birth video. He promptly played a clip from the Lion King, of Simba the newborn cub held aloft – as graceful a way of calling out a racist as one can imagine."
This has always been a problem for the British. They never wanted to be part of the EU anyway. They wanted to be part of some sort of Anglophone transatlantic alliance. But the US was not that into them then. We told the British to play and have a good time with its European playmates.
And isn't that into them now, either.
"The Conservative MP Damian Green, a board member of the Britain Stronger InEurope campaign and the chairman of European Mainstream, said: “This shows how misleading it is to say this is just the view of a president in his last days in office. It confirms that mainstream political opinion in the United States is in favour of Britain remaining in the EU, and that the transatlantic values that we share with the US are expressed most strongly in Europe by a fully engaged Britain.”
"A No 10 source said: “Not only do you have the serving US president setting out why the UK is better off staying in the EU, but now those who aspire to be president too. Hillary Clinton worked with the UK as secretary of state for a number of years and saw first hand how the UK’s influence was magnified by the role we played in the EU. When you face a big decision in life, most people listen to their friends, and we disregard such advice at our peril.”
Maybe the Brexit folks should bank on a President Trump
"The Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has not offered a view on whether he thinks the UK should stay in or leave the EU, although he has said he believes there is a good chance the British people will vote for Brexit, partly because of their unhappiness with levels of immigration."
So Hillary Clinton and President Obama for staying in the EU and Trump for Brexit. Brits, you have your choices.
Indeed, they kind of sound like Trump.
On refugees they agree with Trump. One big reason they are giving for Brexit is to stop the flow of Syrian refugees.
Some even go Birther on the President.
"Hence the Brexiteers’ fury. They know how badly Obama’s words undermine their case, especially after what has been a week from hell for the out campaign. One that ended in the absurdity of a Ukip MEP, Mike Hookem, lurching into full-bore anti-Americanism, winding the clock back to 1939 to argue that the US had it in for us even then, seeing the second world war as a way of “smashing the UK’s influence in the world”. When a party defined by its loathing of the EU finds itself attacking the US, you know things have gone awry."
"The same is true of Boris Johnson’s Sun screed, which dipped into Donald Trump’s Bumper Book of Political Wisdom to suggest that the “half-Kenyan” president cannot be trusted because he is filled with “ancestral” loathing of Britain."
"What an interesting choice of word that “ancestral” was. Not “post-colonial”, which would have located this supposed antipathy in the 20th century, but “ancestral” to be run alongside “half-Kenyan”. It was a reminder of the brilliant slapdown Obama once issued to Trump, when the tycoon was demanding to see Obama’s birth certificate. From the podium at the 2011 White House correspondents’ dinner, Obama said he could go one better and show his birth video. He promptly played a clip from the Lion King, of Simba the newborn cub held aloft – as graceful a way of calling out a racist as one can imagine."
This has always been a problem for the British. They never wanted to be part of the EU anyway. They wanted to be part of some sort of Anglophone transatlantic alliance. But the US was not that into them then. We told the British to play and have a good time with its European playmates.
And isn't that into them now, either.
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