Will Barack Obama’s intervention in the EU referendum in support of Remain backfire?
Jack Montgomery, a spokesman for Leave.EU, says Yes.
Barack Obama’s support for the EU is probably best explained by a desire to answer Henry Kissinger’s famous question: “Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?” But we can’t make this decision based on what the US State Department finds most convenient. In fact, I think we’ve all had more than enough of being led by the nose on foreign policy by American Presidents. Imagine if Obama had campaigned for President on a platform of taking the US into a Pan-Americas Political Union, with a Court of Justice in Toronto empowered to overrule its own Supreme Court, an unelected Commission in Brasilia dictating its trade policy, and the doors opened to unlimited immigration from Mexico, Bolivia, and all the rest. Would the American public have elected him in the first place? I highly doubt it, and I suspect the British public will not be impressed by him asking us to remain in a situation he would never accept for his own people.
James McGrory, chief campaign spokesman for Britain Stronger In Europe, says No.
Lots of people I speak to want to hear more information before they make their minds up about this huge decision. They want to hear from a range of public figures and organisations on both sides of the argument. Particularly on the economy. The governor of the Bank of England, the IMF, the World Bank and others have all warned that leaving the EU would seriously damage our economy. Leave campaigners dismiss these respected, independent voices as having no right to pipe up in this debate. And they do the same with President Obama. They play the man not the ball. The truth is that he is the President of the United States and the leader of our closest ally. Lots of people are interested in what he has to say. We already, broadly, know President Obama’s view is that Britain, Europe and America are all better served by us staying in the EU. Let’s hear why he thinks that. If you don’t agree, take on the arguments but don’t shoot the messenger.