Obama, Clinton, McCain - who gets Gordon Brown's endorsement

Gordon Brown has been interviewed by Katie Couric, who is (currently - see Drudge) the anchor of the channel's Evening News show. He was asked about each of the three Presidential candidates, who Downing Street say he will meet on Thursday and Friday. I think his comments suggest more empathy for Hillary than the other two (though the Telegraph's Andrew Porter disagrees)... Can you read anything into the words?

COURIC: What's your impression of John McCain?

BROWN: He's of course a great hero of his time for the courage he showed in Vietnam and subsequently. My discussions with John McCain have been about security and about the international institutions and how they can better deal with the issue of security. I've talked to him about the environment and his proposals on climate change, and of course he's a very experienced senator. It's been good to have these conversations with him.

COURIC: What about Hillary Clinton?

BROWN: Hillary Clinton of course I've known for a longer period of time. I actually knew Bill Clinton before he was president of America because we'd met at conferences previously. Clearly Hillary Clinton is putting forward, I think, a very strong argument about what action has to be taken to deal with the downturn in America and what has to be done to deal with particularly the problem of people who are losing their mortgages or people in danger of not being able to afford to pay their bills. It's clear that when you look at America at the moment, there are the issues, as in this country, that are domestic issues about the future of the economy and there are security issues also about the future of America's relationships to the rest of the world.

COURIC: You have yet to meet Barack Obama.

BROWN: Although I know many friends of his, and he kindly sent me a copy of his book when it was published. The reasons we haven't met before are an accident. Obviously I'm looking forward to meeting him. There's no doubt he has engaged a group of people in political action and consultation in America that previously had not been engaged and I think there are lessons for all of us in Europe and else were around the world.

Comments

[Chuck Unsworth]

Brown's 'endorsement'?

Each of them, if they have any sense, will run screaming into the night.

His 'endorsement' is something to be avoided at all costs. It is, in short, the Kiss of Death.

[Roger B]

Just down the road from where I live there's a modest village with, among other services, a garage and a single petrol pump. You know the sort.

The guy, Jean-Claude, who serves the petrol is a pleasant chap. He lives above the garage with his wife and her ageing, widowed mother. Despite this he always has a smile and a cheery comment about the weather.

I believe that Jean-Claude's endorsement of one of the US presidential candidates would have about the same effect on American voters as an endorsement by Gordon . . . . . . .

. . . . . and he only smiles for the cameras.

[flipped]

Ha Ha Ha! They don't need his endorsement, he needs theirs if he wants to replace Blair as the Whitehouse's favourite lap dog!