What's Behind Barack's Brit Snit

The New York Post ^ | March 9, 2009 | Arthur Herman

[Scanian]

PRESIDENT Obama's first hosting of a foreign leader, the UK's Gordon Brown, was a diplomatic disaster.

Obama failed to hold a joint Rose Garden press conference, the usual protocol when a US president and a British prime minister first meet - a lapse widely noted in Britain and in the diplomatic community. This raised real fears that Obama intends to de-emphasize the decades-old US-UK "special relationship" - fears that seemed confirmed when the White House press secretary referred to a "special partnership."

Also notable were the two leaders' choices for the traditional gift exchange: Brown's carefully chosen official gifts included a pen holder made from a Royal Navy vessel that once fought to end the Atlantic slave trade and a first edition of the eight-volume biography of Winston Churchill begun by Winston's son Randolph and completed by Sir Martin Gilbert. Obama paid him back with a stack of Hollywood movies on DVD that Brown could just as easily have ordered from Netflix.

Nor is Brown the only British ally Obama has treated with disrespect. In one of the most arresting acts of his first days as president, Obama ordered a bronze bust of Winston Churchill (which Tony Blair had given George W Bush after 9/11) returned to the British embassy.

This was a stunning posthumous attack on the memory of a man who was not only the living embodiment of the Anglo-American special relationship (Churchill was half American), but of its ideological foundations.

[Recovering_Democrat]

You mean BESIDES Hussein being a moronic amateur?

[borntobeagle]

I am so embarassed. I think I have an apology letter to write on behalf of our glorious leader.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Ouch! Mr. Herman took Present_ent Obama to the woodshed with this one!!

[LifeComesFirst]

I thought Obama was going to be diplomatic and make other countries like us again......

[Prole]

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.

The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property‹either as a child, a wife, or a concubine‹must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities.

Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.

It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome." - Winston Churchill

[dennisw]

0bammay is a Kenyan. Our 3rd world president. Great Britain is nothing special to him. That’s what happens when you elect a foreigner president who spent his formative years abroad in Indonesia

America’s European heritage means nothing to 0bomo

Every American president had family here for many generations with JFK being a possible exception. 0bammay was drop shipped into Hawaii (not an Anglo state by any means) by his Kenyan daddy

[Sockdologer]

Ouch. Where are those who whined about Bush snubbing the international community now?

[Diogenesis]

"Bust of Churchill Returned by Obama
"After the September 11th attacks our British allies loaned President George Bush
a bust of one of the greatest Britons the world has ever known, Sir Winston Churchill.
It was a gesture to show their support for the United States in one of its darkest hours.
The bust sat prominently in the Oval Office for the balance of President Bush’s tenure there,
and once President Obama took office, the British offered him the opportunity to keep it for the length of his term.
His response was cold and most likely sent tremors through the British diplomatic community."
....
"Diplomatically this is a faux pax that only an unseasoned politician could make.
The British have stood by our side as strong allies for decades and we need to maintain that relationship,
especially in a world that is becoming increasingly dangerous (See Is Nuclear Weakness on the Horizon)
If he did not want to look at it in the oval office he could have displayed it elsewhere in the White House
and not slapped the British in the face in such a blatant disregard of political etiquette."

[Caipirabob]

[autumnraine]

I was so embarrassed, I wrote a letter to Gordon Brown apologizing for my President.

How pathetic is that!

[autumnraine]

I did. It goes out today.

[autumnraine]

Yep, that is exactly it. This, among other acts in his first days show everyone (who is paying attention and not in Lala land) that he really IS a muslim deep down or just playing like he isn’t one to obtain the goals of Islam. (Which is ok in their way of thinking)

[cricket]

They heralded the 'great speaker'; but they never realized Obama's equestrian skills. The truth-to be - told is that when it comes to trojan horses; Obama is a great rider. Pity for all us; they never saw the horse he rode to power on.

(They were 'wrong' on Oama's name; his history; his friends; his leadership abilities. They were 'wrong' on his character. They were wrong on who Obama is; and worst, they are wrong on what they imagine are his 'best intentions' for America.)

[borntobeagle]

Do you have an address to share?

The last letter I wrote to Mr. Blair came back undeliverable.

[EBH]

Indeed this is a good example to examine closer and ask questions?

First off I thought both he and Michelle enjoyed entertaining? Are they not about throwing lavish Weds. night parties?

Second, does 0bama not know how to check his attitude at the door. He is representing America, no matter what he may think or feel about it. It is his JOB to have poise, grace, etc. to foreign dignitaries. I don't care how tired he is there is never an excuse for bad manners, especially when you have a whole staff available to make help make it perfect.

Third, this wasn't one gaffe. This was a calculated series of offending behaviors by the First Couple. A single gaffe the public could forgive and overlook as nervousness upon first meeting...it does happen. But, this was not just one gaffe. This was a purposeful resetting of the Whitehouse culture or lack there of.

[skr]

Very odd, considering Obama is related to the half-American Churchill, as is Bush.

[gridlock]

As I recall, Jimmy Carter’s first visit from the British was also a disaster. Didn’t his Protocol Officer curtsey to the British Queen, or some such nonsense?

[gridlock]

Very odd, considering Obama is related to the half-American Churchill, as is Bush.

One of the annoying things about the computer age and improved recordkeeping is the sudden knowledge that everybody is related to everybody. You just have to look hard enough.

[autumnraine]

I hope this is right, a Freeper gave it to me.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown
10 Downing St
London SW1, United Kingdom