No fewer than five American flags flanked the podium when Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha strode into a Capitol briefing room to announce his dramatic reversal on the war in Iraq.
The bottom line is that Alistair Darling, of all people, may have provided Mr Osborne with the wiggle room that he needs to announce a Plan A-plus which leaves his iron credentials intact - at least on paper.
To call off the local elections would make it hugely difficult for the prime minister not to also announce that there would be no general election that day, so vastly limiting his room for manoeuvre.
And what I can say affirmatively because I know for a fact, having been in a room where this was discussed, the President has not yet even made a decision to announce.