I was finally fired from BBC Breakfast news. My incompetence reached its high point with the visit of Her Majesty the Queen to South Africa. At the time the Royal Yacht Britannia was coming to the end of her time in service. We were broadcasting live as they sailed into Cape Town Harbour. The yacht came into view as I said 'There she is, 100,000 miles on the clock and still looking pretty serviceable' - on screen was the closest close-up I have ever seen of Her Majesty the Queen...
One of the underlying issues about Obama is that he doesn't have about him the all-American 'country boy made good' myth that all other modern Presidents had. There has always been the sense that they have come from some rural, idyllic place to sort out the politicians in Washington.
Obama doesn't have that, and it is beginning to matter. He is the first urban President in modern times, and this does not give you the sense of belonging in the American psyche that other Presidents have depended on.
There was a joke on the campaign trail that I thought at the time really did speak to his condition. His campaign staff got together one night in Pennsylvania, or somewhere quite gritty and said 'Look Barack, you're not getting through to the common people, you're not speaking their language', to which Obama raised himself up to his full height and said "Au contraire"....
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