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Apparently, President Obama doesn’t like the British. During Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s recent trip to Washington, Obama was rude and inconsiderate on multiple fronts. For starters, the first joint press conference with the president and prime minister was canceled “due to snow.” Next, when one was finally scheduled, Obama’s team told Brown’s team that they could not have any British flags in the background. Only after a fair amount of begging did the Brits get their flags.
Next, when the two families met and exchanged gifts, it was clear that the Obama’s were thoughtful enough to tell a page to “go get something nice,” while the Brown’s clearly put some thought into the gifts.
Obama received from Brown a pen holder, made out of timber from the HMS Gannet, a Navy vessel that made several anti-slavery missions to Africa. He also received commissioning papers for a Royal Navy ship that has served as a symbol of goodwill between the US and UK. Lastly, he received a first-edition, 7 volume biography of Winston Churchill.
Obama gave Brown a 25-DVD set of classic movies. I hope he, at least, made sure they play on Region 2 DVD players (as opposed to Region 1, which is the US standard).
For the children, Sarah Brown, the UK first lady, gave the Obama girls outfits from a British clothing chain and selected 6 books, written by British authors, which have not yet been published in the US.
Michelle Obama bought two matching model helicopters, modeled after Marine One. They’re available in the White House gift shop (see third link).
This only adds insult to injury. The anti-Britain attitude started last month. A bust of Winston Churchill, from the British Government’s art collection, had been on display in the Oval Office since 2001. British officials offered to let Obama keep it for another 4 year, but the White House responded, “No, thank you.”
Why does Obama hate the British, so much? I thought electing Barack was supposed to help our standing in the world, but he’s just pissing a lot of people off.