Labour must recapture a little of the hope that Barack Obama personifies so thrillingly
The overwhelming excitement that surrounded President Obama's inauguration was predictable. Yet it was no less spectacular for that, no less a truly global moment, and no less the glorious culmination of a period since the US presidential election last year during which a mood of celebration has lightened the gloomy days of this harshest of economic winters. "Yes, we can" has long become a cliché. But on a day when a president, whom the world feels is theirs, not just America's, takes the oath of office, those words are capable of sloughing off the wear of misuse and once again having the power to uplift.
What do we see in this man? Leadership, pragmatism and thoughtfulness, certainly; charisma, too. But not just these, since they are attributes possessed by the last Democratic occupant of the White House - and we never saw Bill Clinton in the same way, even when he was at his most dazzling. Trust, faith, hope: these are the qualities we detect around Obama, a man whose life story provides a textbook in optimism while never sullying its pages by stooping to blame those who may have placed obstacles in his way.
When we turn our eyes back to our domestic politicians, any comparison is bound to prove dispiriting. The Prime Minister has shown leadership through the financial crisis and in putting aside past bitterness to recall Peter Mandelson to the front bench. These, however, are triumphs of tactics and acumen. He has not regained the trust many placed in him during his decade as the Iron Chancellor. The discipline he advocated and the golden rule he treasured now appear as distant a memory as the strong pound.
The origin of our economic woes may be, in part, global, but Gordon Brown cannot entirely evade the charge that "he did not fix the roof while the sun shone". His insistence that he has made no about-turn fails to convince. Dour and prickly he may have been, but the son of the manse always came across as a man of integrity. But now his unwillingness to admit to mistakes has tarnished that, as the latest polls reveal - giving the Tories a nine-point lead.
Quiet lustre at Westminster is not entirely lacking. An unlikely popular hero has emerged from the Liberal Democrat benches in the tall, unspun form of Vince Cable, who writes about the banking crisis on page 26. The party's unassuming treasury spokesman has been a voice of calm and reason, with more foresight about the credit crunch than his fellow MPs of any party. Ken Clarke, just returned to the Tory front bench, has long been one of the most liked politicians in the country, for similar reasons. These men speak with candour and cleave to principle, even though pragmatism and compromise might have served their careers better. Dr Cable, after all, started his political life in the Labour Party, and was one of the co-authors, along with Gordon Brown and Robin Cook, of The Red Paper on Scotland, published in 1975. Does anyone doubt that a cabinet career could have been his, had he not switched to a party that has been out of power for the best part of a century? Likewise, as James Macintyre writes on page 27, Mr Clarke could have achieved his ambition to lead the Tory party on at least one of the three occasions he has stood, if only he had been willing to compromise on his stance on Europe to appease his anti-federalist colleagues.
It may be that the British political system is incapable of producing an Obama. No party leader can gain that prize without serving many years' apprenticeship as an elected representative, either in the Commons or, in the unusual case of the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg, in the European Parliament. So our candidates are known quantities, their records plain for all to see. President Obama, on the other hand, had not even completed his first term as the junior senator from Illinois before exchanging Capitol Hill for the Oval Office. Even then, he showed wisdom in opposing the Iraq War (as did Cable and Clarke), and progressives around the world can rejoice at the label US conservatives sought to use as an insult when they called him "the most liberal" member of the Senate.
Some may say we had our equivalent moment in 1997, when Tony Blair moved into Downing Street. We know how that turned out. Mr Brown will never have the luxury or opportunity of novelty. But if Labour is to stand a chance of winning the next general election, the Prime Minister must recapture at least a little of that sense of hope that emanates so strongly from Washington today.
