One of the
many errors we fall into through our modern inanity is to take politics
seriously. We take an obsessive interest in the pronouncements, conferences and
personalities of our leaders believing that our fate substantially lies in
their hands. We deceive ourselves and overrate these political panjandrums. Believe
me, we would get on perfectly well without them and their permanent mark on the
public fortunes is usually more or less invisible.
I state my
case by reflecting on the current changing of the guard – David Cameron already
gone after 6 years at the helm of the UK, Barack Obama soon to slip away after
8 years as US President and Angela Merkel nearing her swansong after 11 years
as German Chancellor.
 |
| David Cameron |
 |
| Barack Obama |
David
Cameron is a plausible, well briefed and quite likeable politician with the
self- confidence imbued by a very privileged background. In office he cobbled
together a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and his unremarkable ministry
concentrated on reducing the national deficit – applauded by the EU, the IMF
and the usual suspects, in an exercise of dull economic Orthodoxy. There is no
evidence that Cameron had even one original thought on economics. He just clung
on to turbulent Scotland in 2014, shaking off his lethargy in the last week of
an ill-managed campaign.
Provided
with a fresh independent electoral mandate in 2015, he threw away office by
negotiating an ineffably feeble EU deal and then showing his contempt for his
citizens by campaigning for it. The vote in favour of Brexit became inevitable.
His government failed to stem the influx of jobless EU immigrants to the
justified alarm of non-metropolitan England. Overseas he misjudged his
intervention in Libya and had to be restrained by the Commons from a similar
mistake in Syria. His relations with Obama were those of a craven lackey, even
when that President insulted the UK over the consequences of Brexit. The great
achievement of Cameron, as puffed up by the liberal intelligentsia, was to
legalise same-sex marriage, hardly an admirable legacy. He lacked true passion
and left the stage petulantly; he will be neither missed nor, in time, even
remembered.
Another
failure has been the Presidency of Barack Obama. He has a certain oratorical
gift and he is an unconventional black man, so we have had to endure 8 years of
vapid hot air and constant reminders of how wonderful it is that at last a
black man got to the White House. It is rammed down our throats that the US
President is “the mightiest man in the world” but the achievements of Obama in
office have been deeply unimpressive. Okay, he eventually forced through his
Obamacare health reforms (some 50 years after Europe had done the same and
more) and he did not foul up the economy too much. But is the US a happy
country? Every other day, it seems, some trigger-happy cop guns down a black
and every month some crackpot decides to mow down his friends and colleagues
with his easily acquired AK-47, his right to bear arms (and then murder)
defended by the infamous 1788 Constitution. For it is that Constitution too
which has paralysed Obama’s government as he battled a hostile Congress – maybe
the creaky Constitution needs an amendment or two, targeted to overcome these all-too-regular
bouts of paralysis.
But Obama has not just been a let-down at
home. He has alienated his country’s erstwhile UK friends by threats which only
boosted the vote for Brexit, he led the US into a mire in Syria and inevitably
failed to establish order in Afghanistan. He has allowed Putin to annex Crimea
and threaten Eastern Europe with evident impunity. At inauguration, his promise
was to close Guantanamo; it is still open 8 years later. Obama is a worthy
enough fellow, but nowhere near the class of an FDR or even a Ronnie Reagan.
 |
| Angela Merkel contemplates her problem |
Angela “MΓΌtti” Merkel is still going strong, but her reign is likely to
end by the 2017 elections. The voters eventually tire of their masters and
Germany has prospered under the tutelage of “the Swabian housewife”. Probably
Germany has sufficient entrepreneurial impetus and sound economic institutions
to prosper under any Chancellor. She has built up vast foreign exchange
reserves and has a highly advantageous position within the Euro.
The economic
health of the Eurozone has become crucial for Germany and this has led Merkel
to unleash her hell-hound Wolfgang Schaeuble to discipline and oppress
struggling Mediterranean Europe, especially Greece. But Austerity has failed
and Europe is in turmoil. Add to that the tsunami of refugees fleeing from
death in the Middle East and starvation in basket-case Africa and Angela has
her hands full. In a flash of Lutheran conscience she opened her borders;
1,300,000 penniless migrants made a bee-line for Germany and despite plans to
share them out, they will stay. European liberal values are being tested: the
four Visegrad countries are about as liberal as the late Emperor Franz Joseph.
France has already got quite enough Muslim fanatics, merci beaucoup, and the writ of Brussels in this matter has run
into the sand. Angela faces a very angry electorate and surely will be dropped
by her party. She will see that the time for her to go has come – just as
Maggie Thatcher tearfully accepted her departure in 1990.
So a new
generation of politicians will soon entertain us. The UK already has Theresa
May, a sharp lady, but starting uncertainly by sucking up to the farmers with
promises of matching EU largesse, and
by proposing the reintroduction of grammar schools, probably too crude and
divisive a move. The Court Jester is Boris Johnson, quite an amusing clown,
fond of his classical quotations but an unknown quantity as Foreign Secretary.
The Americans will have the hideous contest of deeply unattractive Hillary
Clinton and obnoxious Donald Trump – as Boris would say, the choice between
Scylla and Charybdis. It is much too early to name Merkel’s successor but some
say we will hear much more of AfD’s leader, another lady, Frauke Petry.
 |
| Frauke Petry, Chancellor in waiting? |
So Girls and
Boys, “On with the motley!”
SMD
21.09.16
Text
Copyright © Sidney Donald 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment