Our friends hate us too...thanks Barry!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2009
Our friends hate us too...thanks Barry!
452
Mon, 03-09-2009 - 6:05pm

London aghast at President Obama over gifts given to Prime Minister Brown

BY David Saltonstall
Daily News Senior Correspondent

Updated Saturday, March 7th 2009, 2:03 AM

You'd think President Obama had booted the Brits out of America — again!

London newspapers are howling over a string of alleged snubs by Obama to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during his visit to Washington last week — including a squabble over presidential gift-giving.

"President Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain," sniffed The Daily Telegraph Friday. "His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling."

The list of complaints is longer than the Magna Carta: Obama canceled a planned, podium-to-podium news conference with Brown (actually, none was ever scheduled); he recently removed a bust of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill from the Oval Office; and he gave gifts to the Brown family that were "about as exciting as a pair of socks," one Fleet Street wag whined.

That last bit might be true. After Brown presented Obama with a pen holder crafted from the timbers of the 19th century British warship HMS President (whose sister ship, HMS Resolute, provided the wood for the Oval Office's desk), Obama offered up ... 25 DVDs of American movie classics.

"Oh, give me strength," wrote one appalled Daily Telegraph staffer. "We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic."

Never mind that Brown is blind in one eye and may have a hard time seeing the stars in "2001: A Space Odyssey," or that American DVDs are usually incompatible with British players.

Equally insulting, decided the Times of London, was Michelle Obama's "solipsistic" and "inherently dismissive" gifts to the Browns' two little boys, Fraser and John.

The offending souvenirs? Toy models of Marine One, the President's helicopter — gifts no doubt plucked from the White House gift shop at the last minute, The Times decided.

Brown's wife, Sarah, by contrast arrived with dresses for Sasha and Malia from the UK's trendy Top Shop (with matching necklaces) and a selection of books by British authors.

"A bit of thought had clearly gone into choosing them," crowed The Daily Mail. "Lovely."

The Brits have blown up the alleged snubs into new evidence that the "special relationship" between the two nations is no longer quite so special.

The hand-wringing began last month when Obama removed a bust of Churchill from the Oval Office and replaced it with his hero, Abraham Lincoln.

The Times of London immediately traced Obama's "disdain" for Churchill to Kenya, where Obama's grandfather was caught up in the Churchill-led suppression of the 1950s Mau Mau Rebellion that left thousands of Kenyans dead.

"It's not surprising that Mr. Obama didn't want Churchill looking over his shoulder," explained one correspondent.

At this point, the two sides seem to be in full repair mode. The White House let it be known that Obama and Brown shared a chummy phone call as the prime minister was headed home.

And Friday, it was revealed that Obama would be granted a private audience with Queen Elizabeth when he is in London next month.

Quipped one reader of The Sun, "I hope Her Majesty likes DVDs."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/03/06/2009-03-06_london_aghast_at_president_obama_over_gi.html

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2008
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 2:53pm

<>


Real cute.

 

 

Guild Member since 2009

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 3:29pm
Surely if we now want to rewrite the reasons to have invaded Iraq to include genocide against Iraqis we might want to address why we haven't applied that same logic to other nations which have used genocide against it's own population - for example Darfur?
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 7:20pm
Libbys love that picture. LOL!
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 7:24pm

>>> Not true. The majority of UN security council members did not support the invasion

The UNSC voted for 1441 unanimously. A vote on a war resolution was never taken.

>>> and it was also not supported by some of our traditional allies such as France, Germany and Canada.

Hmmm...maybe because they were in bed with Hussein, ripping off the oil for food program? Why would they want their cash-cow invaded?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 7:25pm
It's true...but maybe if we drank the kool-aid too we'd find ourselves in agreement with the left?
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 7:27pm
Yes we do!!
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 7:34pm

>>> I know what you mean. It's been posted numerous times that Bush did not have UN approval prior to invading Iraq and many of our allies did not support the invasion, but those facts continue to be overlooked. Just another example of willfull blindness.

The war resolution was never put to a vote because France threatened to veto...but while the UNSC did declare Hussein a threat and DID..."authorized Member States to use all necessary means to uphold and implement its resolution 660 (1990) of 2 August 1990 and all relevant resolutions subsequent to resolution 660 (1990) and to restore international peace and security in the area"...the FACT is that the US doesn't need the UN's permission to act to defend it's security or to act in accord with international treaties.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 7:36pm
and that was not lost on Russia when they defended themselves against Georgia... and we could say nothing except - oh yeah - "We are all Georgians!!"
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2009
Wed, 03-18-2009 - 2:18am
Actually, the perpetually inept Barry said "let the UN deal with it"...apparently unaware that Russia has a veto in the UN. LOL! Wadda maroon!
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-23-2009
Wed, 03-18-2009 - 8:29am

But you're ignoring the fact that I'm right - the majority of the UN security council did not support the invasion and neither did several of our allies. The information you have given does not back up your earlier

Chrissy
mom to Aidan 8/21/2003
and Grayson 12/

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