My number one issue politically tends to be US foreign policy and international relations in general. As such, I feel I have been too quiet and ignoring an Obama story that really does piss me off.
It seems trivial in comparison to the host of other issues facing the US, but the diplomatic gift exchange flap is really upsetting to me. This is diplomacy 101. This is a topic in diplomacy no one talks about because everyone just does it, and has done it for as long as civilization has existed. PM Brown brought a pen and holder carved from the wood of anti-slaving ship that happened to be the sister vessel of the one used to make the desk in Obama’s oval office, The Resolute. He also gave Obama the framed commission the HMS Resolute, and a seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill. Obama gave Brown a set of 25 DVDs. Seriously, come the fuck on!
Beyond that, the entire visit of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was just a mess. No state dinner was planned. No joint press conference was scheduled. Even the gifts for the children were poorly chosen, as the Obama children were given outfits from London’s trendy Topshop with matching jewelry and the Brown children were given toy helicopters. Brown was treated like a diplomat and not the governmental leader of another nation, let alone the governmental leader of one of our staunchest allies. I can’t blame Obama alone, because there are entire teams of people that should take care of things like this. It made the Obama administration look amateurish. I’ve been brooding over this for days, and felt the need to say something.
The gift to Brown baffled me too. The state dinner is more understandable given the logistics of it, though a joint presser could have been done pretty easily.
Amen. How does something this basic get so FUBAR?
