BrewersDroop
06-23-2005, 09:01 PM
Blair finds heaven in Euro hell. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1513580,00.html)
They were going to give him hell. Only 24 hours earlier, the European parliament had cheered an attack on Britain, denouncing perfidious Albion and its wicked plot to remake the continent in its own image. For days, Europeans had blamed Britain for derailing last week's failed summit. Yesterday they were licking their chops, ready to confront the wrecker-in-chief, Tony Blair.
...
The prime minister swept them off their feet. MEPs queued to shake his hand; the press corps were drafting rave reviews for this morning's continental papers.
For British observers, it was nothing we haven't seen already - and many times over. But that makes it easy to forget the impact the Blair routine can have on an audience exposed for the first time. The conversational style, the self-deprecating asides, the flashes of apparently sincere passion - it had the Brussels audience rapt. In a difficult arena - a hemispherical chamber of warehouse proportions and through multiple translations - Mr Blair somehow managed to hush the room.
...
So notch up yesterday as a rhetorical triumph. That is hardly a surprise: in British politics, Mr Blair is the greatest communicator of his generation. But what happens next? In the last few weeks, the prime minister has promised to transform not one continent but two - first Africa, now Europe. That's grand talk. But will it be followed through with deeds? Will this be a defining moment in the rescue of the European Union - or just a really good speech?
It's true. Anyone who has a chance to watch Blair at work -- CSPAN broadcasts Prime Minister's Question Time in the US, for example -- should do so. The man can talk up a storm and really make you a believer in his vision -- even if only fleetingly while he's speaking.
They were going to give him hell. Only 24 hours earlier, the European parliament had cheered an attack on Britain, denouncing perfidious Albion and its wicked plot to remake the continent in its own image. For days, Europeans had blamed Britain for derailing last week's failed summit. Yesterday they were licking their chops, ready to confront the wrecker-in-chief, Tony Blair.
...
The prime minister swept them off their feet. MEPs queued to shake his hand; the press corps were drafting rave reviews for this morning's continental papers.
For British observers, it was nothing we haven't seen already - and many times over. But that makes it easy to forget the impact the Blair routine can have on an audience exposed for the first time. The conversational style, the self-deprecating asides, the flashes of apparently sincere passion - it had the Brussels audience rapt. In a difficult arena - a hemispherical chamber of warehouse proportions and through multiple translations - Mr Blair somehow managed to hush the room.
...
So notch up yesterday as a rhetorical triumph. That is hardly a surprise: in British politics, Mr Blair is the greatest communicator of his generation. But what happens next? In the last few weeks, the prime minister has promised to transform not one continent but two - first Africa, now Europe. That's grand talk. But will it be followed through with deeds? Will this be a defining moment in the rescue of the European Union - or just a really good speech?
It's true. Anyone who has a chance to watch Blair at work -- CSPAN broadcasts Prime Minister's Question Time in the US, for example -- should do so. The man can talk up a storm and really make you a believer in his vision -- even if only fleetingly while he's speaking.