Skipper

So it wasn't like George Bush in his flying jacket and Tony with his crotch squeezing chinos, but if you look at the picture left you'll see an even more adoring, sycophantic expression on the face of Gordon Brown as he gazes in awe at the charismatic politician who is (still) the most popular man in the world right now.

If you are interested enough to read press coverage of the visit the Daily Mirror today,you'll learn that:

The Barack & Brown show got off to a promising if unspectacular start at the White House.

Hmm. If you read the rest of the press, you'll get a completely different impression; take Alice Miles in The Times for example:

Gordon Brown and Barack Obama will hold a press conference and have a working lunch, No 10 announced. Oh no, they won't. the White House said. There was no formal press conference. And the lunch wasn't even an hour long. Except it wasn't actually lunch. It was “talks”. With a photo opportunity attached.

Oh dear. Poor Gordon, he's trying so hard and it shows. This debacle was only a tad shy of a humiliation I'd say. I do hope his speech goes well though I'm fairly confident, any standing ovations he gets will be made more out of politeness than enthusiasm.