The best opinion writing from Sunday’s papers, all in one place. Brought to you by Caroline Crampton.
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Dominic Lawson in the Sunday Times wrote about David Cameron’s “smarm offensive” on his recent foreign sojourn. Analysing Cameron’s statements about Gaza and Pakistan, Lawson found his “spontaneity and directness” to have “an undeniable appeal”, but concluded that, in some ways, his remarks betrayed a “tendency to improvise foreign policy”.
Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer looked back at 11 weeks of David Cameron’s “sushi government”, and concluded that he is “an instinctive politician” who handles the “public performance” aspect of the job very well. Despite the unfamiliarity of a coalition in Britain, Rawnsley feels that he’s made “an impressive start”, but stressed that this is just “the beginning of the beginning.”
Jenny McCartney in the Sunday Telegraph found Ian Duncan Smith’s plans to reform the benefit system “interesting and surprising”. After being ousted as Tory leader, Duncan Smith went off and founded the Centre for Social Justice with the aim of “actually doing some good”, and is now the work and pensions secretary trying to enforce “the principle that working should actually enrich you”.
Frank Rich in the New York Times recalled the release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, and attempted to lay to rest once and for all any comparisons with the war logs released last week, saying “they contain no news. They will not change the course of the war.” He wrote that the reaction has mostly been a “shrug” and a “national yawn”, and that the numbers show that the public supports a withdrawal starting next year.
David S. Broder in the Washington Post looked at the rumours that the White House is gearing up to seek more bipartisan support after the mid-terms in November. It is hard to see, Broder admitted, how issues like climate change and immigration will get support across the aisle, but it seems that Obama is ready to try something unconventional if the elections goes as predicted – after all, “as he has sometimes remarked, he is not the classic party animal.”
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