Search Results
The snub: Obama removed "the Winston Churchill gift bust from the Oval Office and refused to schedule a full-fledged side-by-side news conference with Brown"
Oh but they also exchanged gifts.
So what did Gordon Brown give Obama?
"a pen holder carved from the timbers of the HMS Gannet, which was a sister ship of the HMS Resolute, and first edition biography of Winston Churchill."
And in return:
Gordon Brown has been given a collection of 25 classic American films on DVD as his official gift from Barack Obama.
Wow! Way to solidify those trans-Atlantic relations Barack. I think a subscription to Netflix would have been more useful.
They're not even Blu-ray.
ReplyDelete"timbers of the HMS Gannet, which was a sister ship of the HMS Resolute"
ReplyDeleteBTW The Presidents desk in the Oval Office is made from the HMS Resolute.
UPDATE:
ReplyDeletePresident Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain this week. His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling. First Brown wasn't granted a press conference with flags, then one was hastily arranged in the Oval office after the Brits had to beg. Obama looked like he would rather have been anywhere else than welcoming the British leader to his office and topped it all with his choice of present (*) for the PM. A box of 25 DVDS including ET, the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars? Oh, give me strength. We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic. Even Gordon Brown will have seen those films too often already.
This was coupled with Michelle Obama's casual choice of gifts for the Brown sons - matching models of the helicopter which ferry her husband around. While Sarah Brown had spent time choosing gifts for the Obama girls, Michelle had clearly sent an aide to the White House gift shop at the last moment....