Is this how we treat our Allies ?

[Jolie Rouge]

So, as we all know, Gordon Brown came to visit with Barack Obama. He, of course, brought his wife and two children: two boys named Fraser and John. And it doesn’t seem like President Obama is making a great first impression on Prime Minister Brown.

First, Obama cancelled the press conference with Brown… because of snow. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_ha...ecause_of_snow

No sooner had the Prime Minister’s plane touched down at Andrews Air Force on Monday evening when word was passed to travelling Westminster correspondents that the press conference they’d been told to expect had been called off “because of snow”.

Hours earlier, at around 4pm EST on Monday, a British official had told me that there would be a “press conference” after the PM and President Barack Obama had met in the Oval Office and before they had their working lunch in the Old Family Dining Room. Exact timings, however, were vague.

By 8pm, the press conference - if there’d ever been one planned - was officially off. The White House press schedule stated: “There will be a pool spray of the meeting.” In layman’s language, that means a small collection of reporters and perhaps two or three quick questions. That means something very short and ample opportunity to dodge anything difficult.

… Brogan quotes one Number 10 apparatchik as saying: “We’re trying for something a bit more intimate but there won’t be flags and podiums. We were going to do one in the Rose Garden but with the weather. They will be together and they will take questions.”

Oddly enough, at White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’s 2pm briefing, he said that “I believe it’s going to be some questions in the Oval”. Although he added that “I don’t know the answer to all of the logistics”, it was pretty clear at that stage - within the White House at least - that there wasn’t going to be a press conference.

The notion that there would ever have been a press conference scheduled in the Rose Garden at the start of March is, of course, faintly ridiculous.

Mr Brown might be forgiven for thinking that his friend, rival and predecessor Tony Blair would not have been treated the same way by his bosom buddy President George W. Bush. After all, there are 132 rooms in the White House at least some of which, presumably, are currently free of snow.

On the other hand, President Obama is terribly busy this Tuesday. The White House schedule tells us that he is delivering remarks at the Department of Transportation to deliver remarks about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is also speaking at the Department of Interior to mark its 160th anniversary.

There’s a conflab with Pentagon chief Bob Gates. Oh, and Mr Obama will also meet “a delegation from the Boy Scouts of America and receive their 2008 Report to the Nation”. in the Oval Office.

Mr Brown might lament that despite the so-called “special relationship” Britain is now getting the same treatment as the President of Uruguay but he need not despair. I’m told there’s a chance he might get drinks with Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening.

Interesting that Obama cancelled on account of snow. Not too long ago, he was preaching to DC residents that they needed to suck it up and stop complaining about the snow so much. Meanwhile, he was cranking up the thermostat to near greenhouse temperatures. But then, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown comes to town, suddenly the snow is a hindrance.

What happened to that flinty Chicago toughness, President Obama?

Britain is one of our closest allies, and Obama couldn’t make it a priority to make sure that press conference happened? If for no other reason, it should have been a priority as a sign of respect. What’s truly scary is that this was not an unexpected visit… but the Obama administration couldn’t even coordinate this meeting with advanced notice. And as the blogger, Toby Harnden, noted, there were presumably 132 snow-free rooms inside the White House that could have been used.

If he can’t even be prepared for an expected visit from one of our closest allies, what will happen if he gets that 3am phone call everyone obsessed about during the campaign?

And don’t think it was just the President who showed poor class. The First Lady wasn’t a model of graciousness and charm, either. While Sarah Brown came to the White House armed with thoughtful gifts for the Obama children, Michelle Obama couldn’t be bothered to do more than send an aide down to the White House gift shop for the Brown boys

Like all good guests, Sarah Brown arrived bearing gifts for the children, Malia and Sasha. And they were really nice presents. A bit of thought had clearly gone into choosing them: Top Shop dresses (with matching necklaces) and a selection of books by British authors. Lovely.

Mrs Brown may have two boys but she certainly knows the way to a little girl’s heart. These were gifts chosen in the true spirit of present-giving: to please the recipient, not the giver.

In return Mrs Obama gave the Brown children, Fraser and John, two toy models of Marine One, the Presidential helicopter. Fair enough on the helicopter part, always a popular choice with small boys; but Marine One? It’s not as though anyone needs reminding that Barack Obama is President or that he has his own helicopter. Short of giving the boys Action Man models of her own husband smiting the evil forces of neoconservatism, Mrs Obama’s gesture could not have been more solipsistic or more inherently dismissive of Mrs Brown.

Not only did she demonstrate that she spent approximately three seconds contemplating the needs of the Brown boys (having an aide pop to the White House gift shop for a piece of merchandising does not imply a great deal of thought), she appeared to show a most uncharacteristic lapse of judgment.

And yes, those Marine One playsets are sold in the White House gift shop. They’re a whopping $15. I somehow think that two dresses with matching necklaces along with a handful of books cost more than $30, and I certainly don’t think that Sarah Brown got them from the Downing Street gift shop. There was also only one White House photograph of the two of them meeting together, making me wonder if Michelle even bothered to spend any time with her guests beyond this one meeting.

Of course, I get we can somewhat commend Michelle. She didn’t cancel the meeting altogether for some bogus reason, and hey, at least she got them something, right? Even if the gifts were little models of thoughtless narcissism, it’s better than nothing, I guess.

The entire handling of the Prime Minister’s visit shows an unbelievably embarassing amount of narcissism and egotism from the White House, from both the President and the First Lady. Britain, one of our closest allies, was brushed aside as if they were some small, insignificant nation that we didn’t really need to pay attention to. The problem is not the gifts on their own — it’s the overall treatment of our closest ally since WWII that’s made Brits so furious. Rather than showing graciousness, the Obamas just brushed them aside. It seems to me that they’re buying into the hype a little too much. To them, they truly are the Messiah couple. And if they’re truly the Messiah couple, then the Browns should feel honored in their presence, rather than treated like an honored guest.

The Prime Minister of Britain and his family deserved better treatment than this. They should have been treated like the honored guests that they were. It just seems to serve as another example that of how clueless and inexperienced the Obamas are… while simultaneously thinking the world of themselves.


http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/...-you-dont-say/

Hat Tip: Ace of Spades http://ace.mu.nu/archives/283800.php

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[anothersta]

Even Carter wasn't this bad. Our country was just extremely humiliated, ....... again.

Wonder if we Americans should start sending letter of apology to the Brits. On the other hand, they were all full of him when he made his European tour so they can just deal with it like we're having to.

[Jolie Rouge]

Just keeps getting better and better ...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...ationship.html

[Jolie Rouge]

Thursday, March 05, 2009
Giftgate?
http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/2009/03/giftgate.html

The British papers are abuzz about the gift exchange that occurred between Gordon Brown and Barack Obama. Here's the lowdown: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...ationship.html

During his historic trip to Washington, Gordon Brown gave Barack Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet - once called HMS President.

The unique present delighted Mr Obama because oak from the Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that already takes place in the Oval Office in the White House, after being presented by Britain to the US in 1880.

Mr Brown also took to Washington a framed commission for HMS Resolute, a vessel that came to mark Anglo-US peace when it was saved from ice packs by Americans and given to Queen Victoria. He also gave a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

And what did President Obama present the Prime Minister?

For despite being leader of the world's most bountiful nation, President Obama handed over nothing more thought-provoking than 25 classic American films on DVD.

It was the equivalent of receiving a pair of socks from an unfamiliar aunt at Christmas - and a less-than-glowing affirmation of the UK-US bond.

This must be more of that new diplomacy we were promised.

To quote a 1970s cartoon character (who I must refrain from identifying for reasons of sensitivity. Bonus points if you come up with it.):

"No class."

MORE from TigerHawk: For those of you who are inclined to apologize on behalf of our President, the postal address and fax number for 10 Downing Street are here http://www.number10.gov.uk/footer/contact-us You can fax the Prime Minister on 020 7925 0918. (From outside the UK, the number is +442079250918) You can write to the PM at the following address:
10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA

Or, alternatively, you can contact the British embassy in Washington here.
http://ukinusa.fco.gov.uk/en/us-locations/4466545
Ambassador:
Sir Nigel Elton Sheinwald KCMG
British Embassy
3100 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20008





Check out this video: http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2...comment-314763

[anothersta]

You know, that was petty for the O's to treat the Brown's that way. And, I found it very humiliating for us as a country. I hope they get European versions of the DVD's and I give the O's a big high five for having Star Wars in there.

BUT, I'm not about to apologize to them. Gordon Brown was over here to discuss a comprehensive bailout for the world. And let me define comprehensive for you, it means "we're paying for it".

Plus, those dingbat Europeans treated him like a God while he was there all caught up in the hooplah, saying how great he was... heck, a UK comedian got on MTV and begged us to vote BHO in!! If anyone watched MTV, I'd have been more miffed about that.

So, NO, NO, NO, no apology from me. You Brits got what you asked for. Deal with it!

We have to. Given the projected begging for comprehensive global bailout, I can only hope Gordon Brown goes homa and stews in a corner about this for 4 years. Maybe we'll do better next time around. We'll have a president with the guts to say no....

[SurferGirl]

This is an interesting take on the Obama's snub of the British.
One thing to note is the Michele Obama wrote a paper about Britain and the slave trade. Talk about holding a grudge for something way back when.
I wonder how they will treat visitors from Arab countries, I'm sure they will get the royal treatment.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/art...cle/198/22474/
Obama gift gaffe
Audio Available:

March 9, 2009 - 12:31 ET

Related Story
To my special friend Gordon, 25 DVDs: Obama gives Brown a set of classic movies. Let's hope he likes the Wizard of Oz
GLENN: We mentioned it last week. Nobody in America is upset about this. You remember last week we told you that Barack Obama, when Gordon Brown came into town, he decided that he wasn't going to have a press conference. He also decided that there wouldn't be any British flags in the press conference, when they met, there wouldn't be a British flag. What are you even thinking? So there's no British flags. They met in the oval office. This set, the diplomatic core for the English back, the press corps and they didn't know what to do. They didn't know how to spend this. What does that mean? And Barack Obama just said, I'm not going to have a joint press conference. Well, you don't do that. I mean, I've seen him with the president-elect Iceland. Hello, it's Great Britain, our greatest ally. But then he also gave a gift. He gave a gift of a bunch of videos. Well, okay. That's usually not what the president gives. Usually it is a gift to the head of state of something of significance, something of real importance, something that signifies how deep our friendship goes and also says something about our country and our resources and, you know, our heritage. To me it's appropriate that Barack Obama, when he looks to what could be a statement gift that I can give the leader of our greatest ally, what is something that says everything you need to know about America, he goes and gets a bunch of DVDs from movies that we've made. I mean, it's -- and he didn't even get the movies that they can watch over in England. It's not the same technology. So all of the movies that Gordon Brown was given as a gift from our president he can't even watch. And what did we receive as a gift? Barack Obama was given a pen made from the wood of the HMS Resolute. The Resolute was one of their big warships and it went -- these two ships went up and they were going up into I think it was the Arctic Circle, I'm not sure. They went up to the Arctic Circle. The Resolute gets stuck in the ice. So does the other one, but the Resolute never gets out, and the captain of the Resolute says, "Get out of the ship, get onto the other one; we're going home." When he gets home, he's court-martialed because he's left the HMS Resolute, a perfectly good ship, and he abandoned. And so he is court-martialed for it. Well, eventually the ice breaks and America goes up and we pull that thing out of the ice and we sail it over to England and we return her in, like, 1850 something or other as a gift. Well, the Resolute is in service for England and, you know, it signifies our gift to England and we say, please forgive us for everything that we've gone through in the past 50, 75 years. We are brothers. The Resolute is a big deal. So when the Resolute is decommissioned, Queen Elizabeth decides, I'm going to take the wood and I'm going to make two desks. I'm going to make one for me and one for the president. This is as significant as France giving us the Statue of Liberty. So she takes this and she makes it into two desks. It's the desk that -- remember little JFK, Jr., he opens up the trap door and he looks, you know, through it? That's the USS Resolute desk. There's only two of them: One with the queen, one with us. FDR put that door there. This is such a historic desk. He put that door there so it would hide his wheelchair so nobody could see his wheelchair. The door is the only place where the seal has the eagle looking down at the arrows instead of the olive branches, okay?


So what does Gordon Brown do? He comes to meet with the president and he gives him a set of pens made from the wood of the USS Resolute to match the desk that should be in a museum. He gives him a matching set of pens. Barack Obama hands him a basket -- I'm not kidding you, hands him a basket of DVDs that he can't play. Mrs. Brown has children's clothing from, like, the best designer in England, you know, all fit the kids. Michelle Obama goes downstairs, grabs a couple of boxes of Marine One helicopter models and gives them to Mrs. Brown: "Here, this is for you." As bad as this is --
because what this shows is either the disdain of the Obamas for England, and I don't know which one's worse, the disdain of England from the Obamas, and you should see -- Michelle Obama, what she has written about England, you know, they were just, they were the linchpin of the slave trade. She has real disdain for them, at least she did when she wrote her term paper. It may be just that, that she hates white England. I'm not sure. But let's give her the benefit of the doubt and let's say they don't hate England.It shows the arrogance. We have people in the State Department, this is all they do is come up with gifts. The arrogance of this administration. They are obviously not listening to the State Department on something this important as a gift. And the worst part of it is the bust of Winston Churchill, there are two of these. England's working in twos: The HMS Resolute desk and the bust of Winston Churchill. This is the most famous bust of Winston Churchill. England gave this bust to the president for the White House right after 9/11 as a sign of standing together: We will stand together united as one. They gave us this historic bust of Churchill. It has been sitting in the oval office since 9/11. Barack Obama says we're going to box this back up and you guys can take it home with you. Gordon Brown says, "No, no, no. Mr. President, that was a gift from the people of Englan d after 9/11. If you want to keep that in one of your museums, you may keep it in one of your museums but please, no, no, that was a gift. That wasn't to borrow. We didn't just lend that out to you. That's a gift from us." He said, "No, that's okay. We don't want it." And he's sending the bust of Winston Churchill back to England. The people of England are going crazy and they're going crazy because our press hasn't even reported on this. What is this guy doing? What is he doing? Stu's got a theory.


Maybe we should all write to the British Embassy and apologize for our presidents lack of manners.

[Jolie Rouge]

Must be read to be believed.... "Too tired" to do his job ?? "Taliban Moderates" ??


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...don-Brown.html

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/03/09...es-you-nitwit/

http://www.reuters.com/article/featu.../idUSISL492661

[janelle]

Who pays for these gifts anyway? Maybe it would be better not to give gifts and instead give money to a charity or something more useful. Hey, if the American people have to pay for all these gifts to foreign dignitaries I say just give them a set of DVDs. LOL

On the MTV awards that stupid British comedienne chastised us to vote for Obama---please??? "You know those who don't are called, I think it is, racist." What an idiot he was, so now they can deal with Obama, they wanted him.

[anothersta]

Who pays for these gifts anyway? Maybe it would be better not to give gifts and instead give money to a charity or something more useful. Hey, if the American people have to pay for all these gifts to foreign dignitaries I say just give them a set of DVDs. LOL

On the MTV awards that stupid British comedienne chastised us to vote for Obama---please??? "You know those who don't are called, I think it is, racist." What an idiot he was, so now they can deal with Obama, they wanted him.

The DVD's were not in PAL format lol

[anothersta]

Must be read to be believed.... "Too tired" to do his job ?? "Taliban Moderates" ??


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...don-Brown.html

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/03/09...es-you-nitwit/

http://www.reuters.com/article/featu.../idUSISL492661

Where, pray tell, do you FIND a Taliban moderate?? Maybe like, when they are stoning someone, maybe it's the dude who digs the hole and buries the victim up to their neck. I've never been to a stoning, but if I had to pick someone to talk to at one, that would be the one, the dude who's digging.

Too tired to do the visit from the Browns lol I was surprised he didn't try to find a way to blame this on Bush or Limbaugh

[anothersta]

I found this part of the UK article most interesting

The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." The apparent lack of attention to detail by the Obama administration is indicative of what many believe to be Mr Obama's determination to do too much too quickly.

Not only did the administration DISS England, they yelled at them, too. And just to add that touch of class, told 'em they didn't matter any more than anybody else.

Great way to make friends with other countries BHO! Will they apologize, probably not. Will they apologize to Muslim Extremists that want to kill us? Already have...