The example that Obama sets for Cameron

It’s strange hearing US pundits solemnly explain that the banking turmoil of the last month was always going to hurt the incumbent government, because it hasn’t hurt Brown. Yet the UK and the US both went through the same reign of error: profligate spending, huge deficits, a housing bubble created by underpriced debt. The Bush-Brown economic policy has led both countries into a painful recession, but leaders do not self-destruct. It takes an Opposition politician to hold them to account. Since Lehman’s collapse, which put the economy at the centre of politics, Obama has succeeded – brilliantly. The Tories have so far failed, abjectly.

Obama had both a critique, and a powerful alternative plan in his “tax cut” message. It became his answer for everything. When McCain wheeled out Joe the Plumber, Obama replied “Joe’s cool. I got no problem with Joe. All I want to do is give Joe a tax cut.”