DC’s trip to DC

There are some British politicians who are obsessed with American politics, who could at this moment tell you who is most likely to pick up the open Senate seat in Colorado or pride themselves on their ability to name every Republican and Democratic vice presidential nominee since the war. But David Cameron isn’t one of them.

Rather, Cameron takes a rather more hard-headed approach. At times this lack of emotional attachment has translated into a lack of empathy; giving a speech on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 which was designed to distance himself from the policy of the then US government was not particularly sensitive. But Cameron’s relationship with Obama will be fascinating precisely because neither man has the intense emotional feeling for the other’s country that has so often kept the relationship moving forward. Can a more detached approach deliver a relationship of the same strength—and with the same benefits for the world—as the more romantic ones have?