Gordon Brown Endorses Himself

There's a "row" over British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's endorsement of Barack Obama, breaking the honored convention of non-involvement in foreign elections. Brown, after all, will have to work with whomever is elected.

The Prime Minister's office and the British Embassy in Washington were last night involved in an embarrassing behind-the-scenes operation to try and limit the fallout from the incident. They were alerted after the highly influential Drudge Report website picked up the story, sparking a flurry of comment and analysis from election watchers in the US.

The Telegraph notes that Brown's endorsement is "of dubious value" - Brown is as unpopular in Great Britain as he is unknown in America. That suggests that the real target of the endorsement is Brown himself. He wants to sidle up to Obama - wildly popular in England and throughout Europe - in hopes that British voters will associate Labour with the Democrats.

This hope seems far-fetched as well: American politics hasn't been a decisive issue in London politics since Lord North's government fell.

Hat tip to Drudge