Another UK Daily Mail story that discusses the traditional dinner, press conference and gift exchange between a new president and the British Prime Minister.
The press conference was canceled due to “snow”. (What!?) The dinner and meeting with the wives never happened… and the gift exchange was a slap in the face. What did the PM bring our President? From the source:
Mr Brown’s gifts included an ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President.
Mr Obama was so delighted he has already put it in pride of place in the Oval Office on the Resolute desk which was carved from timbers of Gannet’s sister ship, HMS Resolute.
Another treasure given to the U.S. President was the framed commission for HMS Resolute, a vessel that came to symbolize Anglo-US peace when it was saved from ice packs by Americans and given to Queen Victoria.
Finally, Mr Brown gave a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.
These were very thought-out, meaningful and priceless gifts. And what did our President give in exchange? Again… from the source:
Gordon Brown has been given a collection of 25 classic American films on DVD as his official gift from Barack Obama.
The Prime Minister flew home from his successful trip to Washington this morning with the ’special collector’s box’ of films hidden in his luggage.
No 10 had tried to keep the present a secret, refusing to answer reporters who asked what President Obama had given to mark the reaffirmation of the special relationship.
DVDs… that he could have bought off of Amazon.com if he really wanted to see. It’s also worth mentioning that the British Prime Minister is going blind… so yeah. That was a really well thought-out gift.
The British Press are feeling insulted. From the UK Telegraph:
But Obama’s merely warmish words (one of our closest allies, said with little sincerity or passion) left a bitter taste with this Atlanticist. Especially after his team had made Number 10 beg for a mini press conference and then not even offered the PM lunch.
We get the point, sunshine: we’re just one of many allies and you want fancy new friends. Well, the next time you need something doing, something which impinges on your national security, then try calling the French, or the Japanese, or best of all the Germans. The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps but beyond that you’ll be on your own.
When it comes to men, munitions and commitment you’ll soon find out why it pays to at least treat the Brits with some manners.
Granted, we’ve not always had the best relationship with the British, but just these past hundred years or so they’ve really been our best ally. They’ve stood by our side at times when the rest of the world seemed to be against us.
Either (A) Obama administration is in way over their heads and they really don’t know what they’re doing. (B) Mr. Obama is just plain rude. Or (C) Mr. Obama just doesn’t care. Neither one of these would surprise me at this point.
