The dreaming spires of Oxford had better wake up if they want to continue to play in the major leagues of American government, as long was the case courtesy of the Rhodes scholarship and never more so than when Bill Clinton became the first Oxonian president.

Of the first 15 cabinet and White House appointments announced by president-elect Barack Obama, none put in time by the banks of the Cherwell, but three earned degrees from the nondescript buildings off the Strand that house the London School of Economics.