The Big Question for April 3rd: England vs. China

The Big Question is a feature where influential lawmakers, pundits and interest group leaders give their answers to a question that’s driving discussion in news circles around the country.

Some responses are gathered via e-mail, while others are gathered in person via tape recorder.

Today’s Big Question is:

Which is more daunting: Diplomacy with the Chinese premier, or tea with the Queen of England?

Read responses below from Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Dean Baker, Grover Norquist, Dr. Larry Sabato, and Dr. Herbert London.

Read the last Big Question here.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) said:

The Queen’s life is marked by great formality and dignity.  It is extraordinary to watch the recordings of her speeches during World War II, as a young woman during Great Britain’s darkest days.  Frankly, she very much reminds me of my great-grandmother, and this way of life is rapidly and regrettably fading from our Western culture. Read the full response here.

Dean Baker, Co-Director at the Center for Economic Policy and Research, said:

They both sound like a tea party. Actually, President Obama should be pushing the Chinese to carry through on their recently implied threat to stop buying U.S. Treasury bills.

If China stops buying U.S. debt, then the value of the dollar will fall relative to the yuan and our trade situation deficit with China and other countries would fall. This is what Congress has been asking China to do all along. Read the full response here.

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, said:

Tea with the British Monarch is silly, inconsequential and a nod to a dying past. Who cares…well, more Americans will respond to how Obama deals with an unemployed descendent of British mobsters (i.e. nobles who stole everyone’s property around them and set the peasants to work for them.) aka the Queen. Read the full response here.

Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics, said:

With all due respect to the Chinese, the answer is tea with Her Majesty, hands down. I’ve had the honor of seeing the Queen twice, once in the U.K. when I lived there, and once in the U.S. on the day of our Bicentennial. I was a nervous wreck both times. When greeting big-shot politicians, they always tell you to imagine them in the bathtub, and that brings them down to earth. It’s sacrilegious to even compose a sentence with “Queen” and “bathtub” in the same sentence. Read the full response here.

Herbert London, President of the Hudson Institute, said:

If you are unaware of tradition or have limited diplomatic training tea with the queen can be a daunting challenge. However, the dangerous challenge, the one that makes a difference, is dealing with a Chinese government increasingly concerned about its dollar assets… Read the full response here.