Here comes Gordon. Brown that is. He's the Prime Minister of the UK in case you've been distracted by a few other things in the past few months.
He is the first European leader to pay a DC visit to President Obama. While it's just one of many items on the new President's calendar, it's being treated as a seminal event in England.
Once again all the old "Special Relationship" history lessons are being dredged up. From Winston Churchill's visit in 1946 when he actually coined the expression "Special Relationship" between the UK and US, to Maggie Thatcher who called Ronald Reagan the second most important man in her life (next to hubbie Dennis), to the ill-starred friendship between Britpopstar PM Tony Blair and all-American George W.
Brown is trying to turn the visit into another watershed event. He says he wants to get President Obama on board with a "Global New Deal" which will help deal with the current worldwide economic catastrophe. And he claims that the two of them are blood brothers politically and can together work on other vexing postponed international ills like global warming.
In point of fact, Brown is desperate for a political boost. I last saw him in person at a foreign press session last Fall when he had just been anointed by columnist Paul Krugman the savior of the world for his bail-out plan.
Since then, as we all know, the economy and markets have gone from bad to worse. And Brown's popularity ratings, which were terrible before the economic woes hit full blast are back to being terrible again.
by Dave Kartunen, Political Reporter, FOX Affiliate WSVN
Florida Governor Charlie Crist delivers the third "State of the State"
address of his administration in Tallahassee Tuesday night, and the
moderate Republican known as "Governor Sunshine" will speak in the face of
some dark economic clouds: the state faces a potential 5 billion dollar
budget deficit, record jobless claims, and sits at the epicenter of the
nation's foreclosure crisis.
Just don't expect those indicators to rain on Crist's sunny demeanor. A
senior member of the governor's staff told me the tone and theme of the
speech will be quintessential Charlie Crist.
"I think we need to talk about where we've been, where we are now, and
where we want to go. And that's sort of the broad theme is that it's a
difficult time now," Crist said Wednesday at a suburban Miami jobs center.
"We need to pull together and work together, regardless of what our party
affiliation is, and that we need to understand that we want to get through
this as quickly as possible."
Crist clearly believes the state's fastest way out of the economic haze is
by hitching itself to the popular new administration in Washington. The
Republican drew the ire of his GOP colleagues with his full-throated
endorsement of President Obama's 787 billion dollar stimulus bill. He
even took the extraordinary step of introducing (and "man hugging") the
president when Mr. Obama's stimulus road show made a tour stop in Fort
Myers earlier this month.
FOX News Channel's "Team Washington" is about all things politics. Check back daily for web exclusives from Special Report's Bret Baier, quotes of the day, viewer votes and more.
By FNC London Based Reporter Greg Palkot