Earlier today I listened to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown give an address before a joint session of Congress. It is his first speech to Congress, and he is only the fifth prime minister to address our legislative body. As it is the first joint address by a foreign dignitary of the Obama Administration, and the UK is our closest ally, I felt it necessary to listen to Brown.
I felt it was a good speech, one that conveyed the continued strong friendship of the UK and the US, and also the general friendship between the US and Europe. Gordon Brown clearly doesn't have the stage presence of an Obama, although he certainly held his own. He got a few jabs in at the current opposition party in the US, while also generating several bi-partisan ovations. His story about the refugee who died in Rwanda waiting for the UN help was a heart-breaker.
Putting aside the meat of the speech, it's interesting to note how comfortable the United Kingdom seems to have become in its role as the junior partner in the Anglo-American alliance. 200 years ago it would have been unthinkable that a British PM would be speaking to its separated offspring, and even up until the dark days before World War II the United Kingdom would have laughed at the idea of being subservient to the upstart Yankees. Its a lesson for the United States to remember, as we continue along in this new century.
Here is PM Brown's speech:
