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LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins and this is The World. It's all about the economy. No need to go into the gory details. The big picture is this: the U.S. economy plummeted at a 6.2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of last year. That's the worst contraction since early 1982. And just yesterday, the stock market hit a 12-year low. Today, a slight slide: the Dow fell 37 points to end at 6726. Still President Barack Obama said today that he's not looking at the small stuff.

BARACK OBAMA: What I'm looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market, but the long-term ability for the United States and the entire world economy to regain its footing.

MULLINS: To that end, Mr. Obama met at the White House today with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The World's Matthew Bell reports that, for the British leader, it's not just the economy.

MATTHEW BELL: The British press rarely succumbs to understatement. Here's a headline from today's Independent newspaper. It says, "Brown Faces Humiliation After Obama Snub." How exactly did President Obama diss the British Prime Minister? By not scheduling a full-blown, joint news conference with Brown in Washington. In the end, the two leaders did hold an extended question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office, and they were asked, just how special is the special relationship between the U.S. and Britain? Prime Minister Brown underscored his closeness with President Obama by engaging in a bit of friendly guy talk.

GORDON BROWN: I've enjoyed every conversation that we've had, both by the telephone and when we've met. I don't think I could ever compete with you at basketball - perhaps tennis.

OBAMA: Tennis, I hear you've got a game.

BROWN: Yeah, maybe we could have a...

OBAMA: We haven't tried it yet.

BROWN: Upshot. I don't know if you...I think you'd be better. But there we are.

BELL: For his part, Mr. Obama pointed out how much the United States has in common with Britain in terms of American culture, language, the legal system, and government.

OBAMA: And by the way, that's also where my mother's side of my family came from. So, I think this notion that somehow there is any lessening of that special relationship is misguided.

BELL: Mr. Obama said Great Britain is one of America's strongest allies, and they have a bond that will not break. To American ears, that might sound like an ironclad endorsement, but not in Britain. Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian newspaper says people there are already picking up on the words "one of" in that comment.

JONATHAN FREEDLAND: One of America's closest and most special allies: that's not good enough for an insecure nation which wants to be told that it's still, in some ways at least, if not number one, then the best friend of the country that is number one.

BELL: The British Prime Minister has a lot riding on his appearance tomorrow in Congress, where he plans to make the case for a coordinated, global response to the economic crisis, and one that doesn't involve throwing up protectionist trade barriers. Brown is facing political trouble at home. His approval ratings are shaky. Jonathan Freedland says Brown will be looking to score political points back home with this visit to Washington.

FREEDLAND: He is hoping that the status and stature of being seen as an international leader close to the most popular politician in the world, namely Barack Obama, will somehow rub off on him, some Obama magic dust will fall on him. And that if British viewers see both houses of Congress rising to their feet and hailing Gordon Brown, well, maybe then this guy can't be such a chump if he's seen as a hero in Washington.

BELL: Politically, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama have a lot in common. They both talk about solving global problems globally, about creating green jobs and finding low-carbon solutions to the economic crisis. Sarah Lyall covers the UK for The New York Times; she says the two leaders have something else in common: they're both policy wonks.

SARAH LYALL: So, they would get along that way. I would tend to think that Brown's efforts to talk about basketball and the like are a PR exercise because he's not that kind of person; he's not really into that kind of public bantering. And it does help if he can make himself seem human, Brown. And I would think these two leaders, it's too serious right now. In a way, it doesn't really matter if they have the same tastes or interests; it's whether or not their economic policies agree with one another.

BELL: On that score, President Obama today endorsed something that Brown's been talking about for months and something Brown is likely to bring up again tomorrow when he speaks on Capitol Hill. The President said it's time to update global financial regulations so the benefits of globalization are not just enjoyed by a small minority who are unaccountable, but by ordinary folks everywhere. For The World, I'm Matthew Bell.

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