Add statesman to that resume
Writing by treason on Thursday, 28 of September , 2006 at 2:50 pm
“…And of course, the new anxiety is the global struggle against terrorism without mercy or limit.
This is a struggle that will last a generation and more. But this I believe passionately: we will not win until we shake ourselves free of the wretched capitulation to the propaganda of the enemy, that somehow we are the ones responsible.
This terrorism isn’t our fault. We didn’t cause it. It’s not the consequence of foreign policy. It’s an attack on our way of life. It’s global. It has an ideology. It killed nearly 3,000 people including over 60 British on the streets of New York before war in Afghanistan or Iraq was even thought of.
…If we retreat now, hand Iraq over to al Qaeda and sectarian death squads and Afghanistan back to al Qaeda and the Taliban, we won’t be safer; we will be committing a craven act of surrender that will put our future security in the deepest peril.
…Yes it’s hard sometimes to be America’s strongest ally. Yes, Europe can be a political headache for a proud sovereign nation like Britain.
…At the moment I know people only see the price of these alliances. Give them up and the cost in terms of power, weight and influence for Britain would be infinitely greater.
Distance this country and you may find it’s a long way back.
…As I said in 1994, courage is our friend. Caution, our enemy.
A governing Party has confidence, self-belief. It sees the tough decision and thinks it should be taking it. Reaches for responsibility first. Serves by leading.
…Government isn’t about protests or placards, shouting the odds or stealing the scene. It’s about the hard graft of achievement.
…That’s why winning matters. So keep on winning. Do it with optimism. With hope in your hearts.
Politics is not a chore. It’s the great adventure of progress.
…So: it’s up to you. You take my advice. You don’t take it. Your choice.
Whatever you do, I’m always with you. Head and heart. You’ve given me all I have ever achieved, and all that we’ve achieved, together, for the country.
Next year I won’t be making this speech. But, in the years to come, wherever I am, whatever I do. I’m with you. Wishing you well. Wanting you to win.
You’re the future now. Make the most of it.”
– Tony Blair at the Annual Labour Party Conference, September 26, 2006
“Make of our hands one hand,
Make of our hearts one heart,
Make of our vows one last vow:
Only death will part us now…
Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart…”
– Tony, West Side Story
“Baby, although I chose this lonely life
It seems it’s strangling me now
All the wild men with big cigars and gigantic cars
They’re all laughing at me now
Oh I’ve been used…used…
I’ve been a fool…oh what a fool
I broke all the rules…rules…yeah
But I must let the show go on
…Walking on the wire, high wire, yeah
But I must let the show go on…”
– Leo Sayer, The Show Must Go On
Back during the Clinton administration I’d look at Bill Clinton and Tony Blair and think: Separated at birth. Birds of a feather. Then something strange happened. Tony discovered that politics wasn’t a popularity contest. And ever since then he’s been…well, unpopular.
CNN wonders what’s next for Blair. United Nations Secretary General? Funny, I thought they wanted Bill in that slot. Another possibility: on the board of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
I predict speaking engagements aplenty and memoirs. Blair is aware that we are living in “interesting” times and he admits “it’s hard to let go.” I actually believe he can. But it’s CNN that can’t:
“…there’s also one other option that Blair, described in The Times as a ‘dazzling showman,’ could perhaps be secretly considering. When he left the stage Tuesday to the sound of T-Rex’s ‘Get It On,’ Blair must have been taken back to his student days when he fronted a rock band called ‘Ugly Rumours.’
With Blair’s early inspiration Mick Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones still going strong well into their sixties, perhaps it’s time for a Rumours revival — with Bill (Clinton) on sax.”
Again, CNN has missed the point. Tony Blair, unlike Bill Clinton, has become an adult.
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