NCAA tournament offers a B-ball boost for US-British 'special relationship'
| Washington
It鈥檚 hardly a unique scenario: Two buddies are facing some especially tough and taxing issues at work, so to let off steam and put things in perspective, one invites the other to take in a little college B-ball.
Except that in this particular case, it鈥檚 President Obama inviting British Prime Minister David Cameron to a first-round game in the NCAA basketball tournament.
And the issues the two leaders will be taking a short respite from range from Iran and Syria to the deteriorating situation that US and NATO forces face in Afghanistan.
With an agenda like that, who wouldn鈥檛 opt for a little March Madness?
Mr. Cameron and his wife Samantha arrive in Washington Tuesday for a two-day official visit (鈥渟tate visits鈥� are reserved for heads of state, like Queen Elizabeth) during which the two leaders will discuss issues as prickly as Iran鈥檚 nuclear program and the impact Sunday鈥檚 massacre of Afghan villagers by an American soldier will have on the West鈥檚 strategy for ending an 11-year-old war.
But come Tuesday afternoon, Obama will usher Cameron aboard Air Force One 鈥� a first for a foreign leader under this president 鈥� and the two will fly off to Dayton, Ohio, where they will, by all accounts, have two choice seats at the tournament鈥檚 opening game pitting Mississippi Valley State against Western Kentucky.
The two leaders are on tap to give a halftime interview 鈥� does the fact the game takes place in a hotly contested swing state explain that bit of White House scheduling? 鈥� and, if Cameron鈥檚 comments before departing London are any indication, he鈥檒l be volunteering to take the questions on global issues while leaving any queries on brackets and probable Sweet Sixteen lineups to his American host.
Cameron confessed to reporters Monday that, while he鈥檚 been 鈥渄oing a bit of research鈥� on the sport, he鈥檚 鈥渘ot yet been to a basketball match.鈥� (The word is 鈥済ame,鈥� sir.)
Basketball is not big in Britain, which has not qualified to play the sport at the Olympics since shortly after World War II in 1948.
But the point for the two leaders, just as when any two colleagues head off to a sporting event, will be less about the game they watch than the time they spend together.
And then this is not just any bilateral relationship, but the 鈥渟pecial relationship鈥� between the US and Britain that has come under question with these two in the past and which both leaders seem intent on demonstrating is as in sync and supportive as, say 鈥� a championship college basketball team.
