LONDON — "A woman president, a black president or the oldest president — which would you prefer?"
That was the question put by an audience member to a recent panel of politicians and journalists on the BBC's "Question Time" TV program. The politicians on the panel were careful to avoid appearing ready to interfere in U.S. politics, but there was no doubt that the panel and the audience regarded the choice of the next U.S. president as of particular importance to everyone in Britain.
The discussion showed that the anti-American feelings manifest in Britain since the beginning of the Iraq war are more anti-President George W. Bush than anything else. The love-hate relationship between Britain and America — "divided by a common language" — will not disappear, but once Bush, like former Prime Minister Tony Blair, has left the political arena for the lucrative lecture circuit, British attitudes toward America should become more rational and warm.