07-17-2003, 11:03 PM
The core of Blair's appeal and the reason it has faded is that he has always been able to sell sand to the Arabs
Fact is now, we're no longer sure we want him to
We've had a very long period now of Tony smoothing over things we are uncomfortable with, of convincing his doubters to do things his way. He always wins the arguments.
This winter it was the firemen, a body of workers not famed for their oratory but deeply revered in any populace
Of course he ran rings round his firemen unionist opponents - he made them look stupid and selfish, nor can most of us British explain quite why that makes us so deeply uncomfortable
If I can make an analogy, I'm sitting here, glancing around at the 8 encyclopaedias I've already bought from him, hoping against hope he doesn't ring the doorbell tomorrow to try to sell me another
Fact is now, we're no longer sure we want him to
We've had a very long period now of Tony smoothing over things we are uncomfortable with, of convincing his doubters to do things his way. He always wins the arguments.
This winter it was the firemen, a body of workers not famed for their oratory but deeply revered in any populace
Of course he ran rings round his firemen unionist opponents - he made them look stupid and selfish, nor can most of us British explain quite why that makes us so deeply uncomfortable
If I can make an analogy, I'm sitting here, glancing around at the 8 encyclopaedias I've already bought from him, hoping against hope he doesn't ring the doorbell tomorrow to try to sell me another