The narrative of the new political era
- 20 Jan 09, 06:57 PM
President Obama - and doesn't it feel odd to write that? - has now defined the political narrative of the coming era.
Watch how our politicians will fall over themselves to show us that they too believe in the "new era of responsibility".
The phrase does of course have uncanny echoes of Gordon Brown's attacks on "the age of irresponsibility". The son of the manse's words this week - "I'm angry too. I am angry at irresponsible behaviour" - is part of his attempt to surf the wave of anger with those who produced what Obama called, with a tone of defiance, "the winter of our hardships".
David Cameron has repeatedly blamed Brown for presiding over this "age of irresponsibility" and the Tories' new poster is aimed at public anxiety over excessive irresponsible debt.
Both men will be quick, I suspect, to echo Obama's appeal to what he called "traditional virtues" and his insistence that the question is not whether government is too big or too small, but whether it works.
I will be watching for the first British politician to borrow from today's rhetoric in speeches, soundbites and broadcasts. A great deal now rests on who is most convincing when it comes from their lips.
