Source: Human Events
There are three words to describe the White House’s reception for the British Prime Minister last week: public relations disaster....Source: Canada Free Press
Even the ritual exchange of gifts was poorly handled by the White House. Brown brought several for the new president, including a first edition of the seven volume official biography of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert, as well as a pen holder carved from the timbers of HMS Gannett, a ship used by the British to combat slavery in the 19th Century. In return, Obama presented his guest with 25 DVDs, ranging from “Psycho” to “ET.” And in case Brown is the last person in the galaxy not to have seen “Star Wars,” that was thrown in too. Quite what the prime minister made of the Wizard of Oz is unknown, but the London Daily Mail described the gift from the president as “about as exciting as a pair of socks.”
The British press has offered several face-saving explanations for these serial rudenesses. Perhaps Obama is “exhausted.” Alternatively, he is simply “focused elsewhere” in the midst of cratering capital markets, collapsing automakers and skyrocketing unemployment.
The real answer, however, was supplied by an unnamed State Department official whom London’s Sunday Telegraph reported on March 8th “reacted with fury” when asked by the paper why the Brown visit was so, er, “low-key.” According to the Telegraph: “The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship. ‘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.’”
