Brown Finds His Moment

Buried in a typical, "look how the bankers are hurting" story in the Washington Post, several dozen of which have run in the past couple weeks, is an interesting political observation:

Brown's approval rating dived into the teens in recent months as the slow-to-smile Scot, the bookish son of a Presbyterian minister, was criticized as having the charisma and leadership skills of a moose lumbering through a forest.

But in the past two weeks, public assessment of Brown has shifted. He hasn't changed, but his low-key style is now widely being interpreted differently. Instead of dull, he is seen by many as unflappable, a voice of moderation and restraint amid a screaming horde of Chicken Littles.

Calvinism, it seems, is back.

"All of a sudden, it's great to look like you haven't slept at all," said Ann Treneman, who writes about British politics in London's Times newspaper. "He's an austere Presbyterian. And he's finally found a crisis that's as grave as he seems to be all the time."

Could this crisis save the electoral prospects of Gordon Brown and his party? Just two weeks their defeat at the next poll seemed assured; now, perhaps, he is redeeming himself. And, perhaps most importantly, doing it through a boring but reassuring command of the details and demonstration of adult responsibility and confidence. Something that perhaps the two candidates for US president could ponder in between pandering sessions.