Obama in Europe: More DVDs for Gordon Brown?
By Jimmy Orr | 03.31.09
President Obama’s got a lot riding on his first big adventure overseas. This isn’t like his campaign jaunt when the world went gaga for him.
Now he’s got issues like the global financial crisis, the war effort Overseas Contingency Operation in Afghanistan, U.S.-European Union relations, reducing tensions between Muslim and Western worlds, and relationship-building between the U.S. and China and Russia.
As our much smarter colleague Howard LaFranchi noted earlier today, relationship-building is key here. Really key.
Mr. Obama may well find himself in the inverse position from where George W. Bush stood by the end of his White House run. Whereas Mr. Bush enjoyed greater cooperation and like-mindedness with many key foreign leaders, though he remained unpopular with the international public, Obama is expected to encounter an adoring public but a deep skepticism – even resistance – among heads of state.
Well, we know where he’s got to start. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The president stiffed him the last time they were together. Kinda ‘rick-rolled‘ him as the kids would say.
My gift to you
When Brown was in the U.S. three weeks ago, the two leaders met and had their customary gift exchange. The offices of protocol are responsible for this transaction. And in the case of President Obama, his office performed about as well as Rick Wagoner.
The British PM presented our president with a carved ornamental penholder from the timbers of the anti-slavery ship HMS Gannet. A perfect gift to place on his desk in the Oval Office which just happened to have been made from the sistership of the Gannet — the HMS Resolute.
Think of it this way: 129 years after Queen Victoria presented President Rutherford B. Hayes with the desk made from the Resolute, Prime Minister Brown reunited the ships with this exquisite offering.
Could there have been a more beautiful gift? Outside of perhaps a few trillion dollars?
And for you
Diplomacy goes both ways. And we Americans assuredly don’t want to ruin our sterling reputation abroad. Furthermore, it’s our pal — the U.K.
Sure they burned down the White House. But that’s water under the bridge. It’s Churchill and Roosevelt. Reagan and Thatcher. McCartney and Jackson.
They deserve something substantial. Like maybe they could have one of the original 13 colonies back. Is anyone really going to miss Rhode Island anyway? No offense.
The envelope please
So with history recording every move, President Barack Obama presented Prime Minister Gordon Brown with…..25 DVDs.
And not just any DVDs. But really good ones. Psycho was on one of them. And Star Wars. And E.T.
“Harumph!” said the the snooty British press.
“A gift about as exciting as a pair of socks,” wrote one reporter at the Daily Mail.
Broken
And then there was that other problem. The DVDs didn’t work.
“Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem,” reports the Telegraph. “The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words “wrong region” came up on his screen.”
“He mournfully had to put the popcorn away,” they added.
He wasn’t the only one mourning.
“British diplomats in Washington are still answering more than 2,000 letters of apology from American citizens for Mr. Obama’s alleged insult to the Prime Minister when he visited the White House this month,” the London Times reports.
Come on!
To be fair, it’s not like Obama gave Brown 25 Ben Affleck movies. That would truly be horrific.
The good news is that our president can redeem himself and perhaps offer up Rhode Island as a gift. Throw in Vermont too. And do we really need Nebraska?
The two leaders meet for three hours Wednesday. First they have breakfast, then a formal bilateral meeting and a press conference.
Note to our British friends: Based on what we’ve seen so far at the White House, you might want to request that the fake President Obama from Madame Tussauds House of Wax participate in the press conference instead of the real deal. He would probably be more interesting.
We’ll try live blogging it tomorrow if we can stay awake.
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2. Will | 03.31.09
Man this showed up in my google news headlines! This isnt news! It’s just a load of irrelevant BS from some whiny bigot looking for anything worth whining about that could be spun into some angry hate story. Stop redirecting your displeasure with O and start focusing on the REAL issues. There are some serious things that Obama is doing that actually affect people! I’m sorry I read this but felt compelled to share my opinions, as they are far more sound than those presented above.
3. TJ | 03.31.09
I’m afraid I must pointedly disagree with the author when he says that President Obama’s time in the White House has been dull. Whether one agrees with the specifics of his policies or not, I think that the country can be in near-universal accord that he has spared little time in reversing nearly all the major tenants of the Bush Administration. (ie. economic policy, education reform, defense policy, and yes, even stem-cell research.) These massive shifts in policy could only be brought about by concerted action and, agree with them them or not, the debates they’ve raised in the national spotlight are anything but dull. I suspect such a poorly defended piece of rhetoric was devised by the same trust who, just a few months ago, was mercilessly lambasting candidate Obama for being too showy, too media saavy, and presenting star over substance. It seems such people are rarely appeased no matter how many DVD’s they might receive.
4. Mark Mercer | 03.31.09
We have already been embarrassed by our former president. Lets wait till the end of his term and compare how the rest of the world looks at us compared to now, after Bush’s 8 years.
And please explain how he has he already wrecked the lives of those yet to be born?
5. Will | 03.31.09
Excellent worldview there, Topher. Totally disregard the fact that Obama actually has a worldly perspective outside of trying to pretend to be a Texas rancher– ya know, actually lived overseas and stuff? Willing to put aside pride to work with people he doesn’t necessarily agree with?
I think that a few DVDs is a little less embarrassing than screwing up the Middle East with a flawed perspective on what a “crusade” against terrorism should look like. For starters, “crusade” is probably a bad word to be using when you’re a Christian talking to Muslims, Mr. Bush.
It’s funny that conservatives are suddenly concerned about how America appears in front of the world– when Bush was in office such a thing would be called “unpatriotic.” Guess what? American Conservatism is currently seen by most of the world as being totally backwards and even dangerous.
6. James the Destroyer | 03.31.09
Give me a break Will. Where were you spouting about the REAL issues when you were watching Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, SNL, and every other pundit mocking our last President for what certainly were not shrugged off as “gaffes” (and shouldn’t have been then either). The fact that for his first meeting with the leader of another country, somehow our President thought it was prudent to offer 25 DVDs is insane. Do yourself a favor and look up the definition of “balanced”, then apply that definition to your website posting.
7. Panskeptic | 03.31.09
OK, you can do snide. Any jerk in his basement with a keyboard can do snide.
What a waste of bandwidth.
8. jaxxer | 03.31.09
LIke Will above, I was so disappointed to see this “facebook” -level pap being distributed by Google as news. It’s adorable, yes, and perfect for it’s assumed sub-teen readership. I’m letting Google know they ain’t no Reuters.
10. Joe | 03.31.09
Either he’s a social idiot, or ,,, I hate to think this was intentional… A visiting foreign official is greeted in a customary manner by the President of the United States of America, who has people in place to take care of things properly,, 25 DVDs that won’t work in England, how embarrassing for our country
11. Duggery | 03.31.09
It was an oversight that said everything about how Obama regards our allies–he doesn’t. It’s fair to say he is far more eager to kiss up to Iran than to walk arm-in-arm with our closest allies. Remember who got his very first interview: Al Jazeera.
12. jahartmu | 03.31.09
To the Obama defenders rushing to dust off the usual Bush-bashing: clearly the author is kidding around and exaggerating for effect. Never mind that Obama’s tenure to this point is littered with silly - and serious - missteps despite his “worldly perspective.” What sort of mistake from President Obama could a writer mock without being called a bigot within the first 3 comments?
Obama’s response to President Bush’s reckless economic policies has been to ram through far more reckless ones; his foreign policy amounts to rebranding the alleged horrors of the Bush administration; and, as this post makes light of, he’s already bungling America’s most vital international relationship. Get over yourselves and, more importantly, get over the hero worship.
13. Will #2 | 03.31.09
@James: Looks like there’s two Wills here, but I’ll respond.
Oh sure a thoughtless gift in exchange for a thoughtful one is a horrible start to a new presidential relationship. But PM Brown can throw away the DVDs and have a chat with Obama to reconcile things– try doing that with any of Bush’s major gaffes. Fact is, this isn’t a major gaffe, it’s just a buzzworthy news story that nobody will remember nearly as long as, say, No Child Left Behind; Patriot Act; Bin Laden Never Captured; Mission Accomplished; Bungled Afghanistan; Guantanamo & Suspension of Habeus Corpus; Civilian Deaths in Iraq; Halliburton and War Profiteers; Going Into Iraq in the First Place; Illegal Wiretapping…
Oh yeah I was spouting about the REAL issues for the past 8 years, and quite concerned about America losing its respect in the world. Of course, I stopped mentioning how poorly the world viewed us, because every time I did a conservative retorted with something about how I should move to France with all the other traitors.
And all of Bush’s “gaffes” were just humor to me– “read good”, “misunderestimated”, “they never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we” — those just made me silently shake my head.
14. Bluesky | 03.31.09
First you people need to get a sense of humor. Second you need to get some perspective. Liberals have created books and calendars mocking Bush’s supposed mispeaks and supposed lack of politesse (remember Bushisms or when liberals howled in horror at the shoulder rubbed he gave the German head of state?).
Were Bush to have done what Obama did and given the equivalent of a refrigerator magnet to our strongest ally, people would have howled about the insensitivity. (Actually there are some fairly clever refrigerator magnets and magnets would also stick to metal in Britain, so that probably would have been a better gift.) Yet Obama delivers a clear insult to our most steadfast friend while and the left scrambles to excuse it.
But all is forgiven because he will save the earth. And how could he not with that massive carbon tax he’s unloading on us. And that massive debt our kids and grandkids are suffering under will make them thankful, too, I’m sure. (I know I know, Bush built up the debt. But just because he was careless and added hundreds of billions that doesn’t mean it’s OK to add trillions. The first is careless the second is idiotic.)
15. James the Humongous | 03.31.09
Not sure which Will you are. Either way, the point I am trying to make is that lambasting an intentionally snarky news story is ridiculous in today’s climate of what “news” is. Perhaps you were crying foul at Stewart, Maher, and the other idiots for the last 8 years (and not getting brainwashed by their sensationalist ****), and if so I apologize for lumping you in with the rest of the Obama zealots.
None of the items you list are what I am talking about. Those are real issues that you have with the previous administration. What I am talking about are things like the unwanted back rub, the way Bush laughed, incorrect grammar, confusion about the names of world leaders, etc. The kind of **** that can be apologized away easily (as you dismissed the DVD item), but for 8 years have been replayed and harped on and used an example of how “stupid” George Bush is. Well, today at least Barak Obama is stupid. Let’s wait and see about tomorrow.
16. James | 03.31.09
I’m betting I’ll get lambasted for spelling Barack with no “C”. Looks like I’m “stupid” today too…
17. Ben | 03.31.09
Will #2 Hasn’t Got A Clue
Education — Remember when Bush kicked those poor DC school children out of the good private schools and forced them to go to the truly horrific public schools? Oh wait, that was Obama. He sends his 2 kids to Sidwel Friends and then less than 2 months later signs legislation that kicks two of their classmates into education **** — which Bush tried to fix but Ted Kennedy and the teachers association that has a lock on the Democratic party blocked every reform.
Bungled Afghanistan? We turned it over to NATO because the left was screaming we had to be multilateral, but the Europeans have no stomach for the left’s favorite good war.
Guantanamo — those guys never had it so good. From living in caves trying to kill us to having great medical care and U.S. marines handling their korans literally with white gloves. You got suckered by terrorist propaganda.
Suspension of habeus corpus? You have no clue what you’re talking about — that applies to America citizens not combatants in war. Lincoln suspended it. FDR basically did with the relocation of japanese Americans. Bush never did.
Civilian deaths in Iraq…caused by the terrorists that Bush defeated. Thank you President Bush.
Illegal wiretapping — are you serious? Are you referring to the same illegal wiretapping that…Obama kept in place? Way to go slugger.
If in 4 or 8 years Obama can claim he kept America safe like Bush did after 9/11 when ever expert said another attack was certain, then Obama will have a shot at something remotely resembling a presidency as successful as Bush’s.
18. thisistofunny | 03.31.09
It is amazing how most people don’t really understand what is at hand.
It is not about Bush or Obama. Even if you think that Bush did all these things without support from both sides why did we allow it? We voted him in twice and we keep voting the same people in that cause the same problems. Yet we blame one side or the other and while we do that most of Washington is laughing at us. If you want a difference be the difference stop allowing this by voting for the right person not party. Ask questions on how it will get done not what you stand for. We have the power, vote and make them do what we the people want. We can argue all do about who did what but it is our fault. We run this nation by our voice and by our vote. Stop what is happening by getting rid of those who have been in power and created this mess.
19. snakes | 03.31.09
25 DVDs is a hilarious gift for such an event. Perhaps Obama has a sense of humor.
20. Doctor Why | 03.31.09
Q: What’s the difference between a liberal joke and a conservative joke?
A: A liberal joke makes you laugh.
“Where were you spouting about the REAL issues when you were watching…”
Just for the sake of argument, I’d like to respectfully ask where you were when conservatives were spreading lies about Al Gore, i.e. “Al Gore invented the internet”? Did you defend Al Gore and lambaste the liars for bearing false witness? I have no problem with true conservatives. I do have a problem with people who proclaim their conservatism, then turn around and spread lies about people. For the record, spreading unsubstantiated lies about someone is not a family value, yet every so-called conservative I know was eager to spread that lie. I am not impressed by this. Should I be? People spreading lies is a REAL issue, don’t you agree?
22. TPK | 03.31.09
What a pack of stuffed shirts. This was satire. News, maybe not, but it’s a little funny. As our First African American President says: From each according to his abilities, to each according to his need.
23. Manish | 04.01.09
How did this article evolve into an assessment about the last 8 years. It’s about a stupid action that President Obama should be sorry about. It’s the same brand of stupidity that is on the same level as the weird shoulder rub. However, I think the UK and all of our other allies will realize that this snub is not on the same level as the problems we must jointly face. It is also something that can be rectified fairly easily with a good gift this time around.
I am just as surprised by the characterization of this event as evidence of the coming apocalypse as I am by the justifications of the gift by comparisons to actions by President Bush.
24. Lee | 04.01.09
Just wait until he gets to Breakfast with Gordon Brown and presents him with a DVD player he picked up before he left the states and realizes that he needs an adapter just to plug it into the wall. He may as well throw in a $50 gift card to Circuit City while he’s at it.
25. Richard Whitney | 04.01.09
The protocol of gift-giving between heads of state is important symbolism that has a 5,000 year history. It must be that Ivy-league grads are unread in the classics these days.
It is true, the shabbiness of the gift is not the biggest mistake BHO has made. There are countless more important ones.
The ‘hope-and-change’ candidate has appointed a chief-of-staff who was on the board at Freddie Mac when the execs there proposed their scheme to inflate earnings and thus inflate bonuses. He made $320K in 14 months on that board. He had, earlier in his career, made $16 million at Wasserstein Parella, where he used his office and connection to Bill Clinton to arrange a sweetheart deal, essentially a rip-off when SBC was selling to Ameritech. Just google Rahm Emanuel and the other terms, such as ‘board’ and ‘Freddie Mac’ or ‘Wasserstein’ to learn more. Or just read the Chicago Tribune once in a while.
How many people do you know who haven’t paid their taxes? BHO apparently knows many. The most egregious example is a man who signed papers as terms of employment promising that he would pay taxes owed on money received while he worked at the IMF. He _knew_ he owed these taxes, nevertheless he did not pay them. What does that tell you about his character? He only paid some back taxes when the IRS caught the deception in two different years of returns. He then only paid the taxes in the other years after he was nominated. And now he is the Secretary of Treasury, and the IRS reports to this cabinet position. How ironic! There are other nominees just as sleazy. What if Bush had nominated Tom Daschle, who owed more in taxes than the average American earns in three years.
BHO picked as a running mate a well-known Senate hack, distinguished only by his length of entrenchment in the Senate and particularly disregarded for his meager intellect. Hunter Biden, his son, worked at a lobbying firm (based in Chicago!), until his father decided to run for president. Obviously, the Senator felt that having a lobbyist son would be a negative. So he arranged for his som to become the manager of a hedge fund, even though he had no experience in that. He subsequently was sued (along with the VP’s brother, incestuous!) by another investor for claiming to be experienced in managing a hedge fund when he wasn’t.
So it is correct that the shabby gift to Gordon Brown was trivial compared to the rest of his acts. For the record, he also returned the bust of Winston Churchill to the British Embassy upon arriving at the White House. Another trivial act? Or part of a pattern?
Do you need more evidence of the duplicity, disregard for liberty, Chicago-thug-pol activities of BHO? They are countless, and go more to the issue of character than this gift incident.
The above are just statements of fact. The instant flamethrowers will now commence to flak away with ad hominem attacks rather than address the evidence. This is to be expected, it is the style of community activists everywhere.
26. Violet Murphy | 04.01.09
Who says the DVDs didn’t work? Not Gordon Brown. That was pure speculation on the British press repeated here as though the story had merit.
27. JJ | 04.01.09
Unemployment could hit 15%, the Dow drop to 1,000, the defecit reach 5 Trillion$, China invade Taiwan, terrorism could re-surge again — but as long as OBAMA has a approval of 75% that is all his fans seem to care about.
28. atebson sr | 04.01.09
BHO, as the president woundn`t have bought those DVDs someone in the protocol department must have,so the officer who purchased the gift should have known or seek advice on stuff of these nature,the USA has adifferent region from the UK.The officers should have bought a universal edition,thats for next,pls you folks should give BHO a break,he is just human like anyone of us,he has just been president for just about four months.Even as a bank newly employed harvard graduate, he will still be learning the rule of the game.
31. April Fools | 04.01.09
Wow, hilarious. Some of you seem to get it. But so many of you don’t, it’s April Fools Day. Fools.
32. Nick Zombi | 04.01.09
Never gonna giiive you up! Oh man, I love that song. I say American DVDs are too good for the british. Their cockney humor has failed to destroy America for the last time and we shall prevail in retaliation of the years of oppression they’ve… something something. I need a nap.
33. Bushisanidiot…Period | 04.01.09
Bush’s gifts are way sweeter!
“As a gift, Bush gave Putin a Segway transporter, and he reportedly gave it a try. The former president and first lady own three Segways and regularly zip around their sprawling property on them. A sign at the entrance to Walker’s Point reads: “Caution. President on Segway. Slow Down.”
34. Mike | 04.01.09
I sound like many of you expect President Obama to cure all the worlds problems in 88 days, which as you all know is the time the president has been in office, it took Bush 8 years to screw things up bad enough to get us where we are today. Give the man a little time to fix the problems, if that is possible, that our last president and his “Ship of Fools” created. I am sure some of the things that President Obama may have to do we may not like but give the man a chance.
35. Sean Poland | 04.01.09
How low can we get? Prime Minister Brown sells England out for DVD’s! We could benefit from French art, French wine, French food, and Sarkozy’s common sense and instead Brown like others is glued to the television set.
36. from Texas | 04.01.09
Just too much, still love this creature. US is now the biggest murder of the unborn in history. Reverse all that Bush did, are you kidding. Sept 11 STOPPED the economy, I mean DEAD STOP, this slow down is being asperated until it can not be corrected. World leaders love our illegitmently born president since they can EASILY push him around. Just wait till we have 2 or 3 months with > 1,000,000 people loosing thier job this month. Yes, reverse Bush, no more record PROFITS, and no more excessive growth across ALL industries.
just a matter of time till, pleading for the depression area things again. We all miss BUSH, since it did so well, extremely well, EXCEPT controlling the press, but other wise EXTREMELY well. Roaring 20’s what will they call the 2000’s, that is untill our new president came on board.
37. Dave | 04.01.09
Can anybody explain why we need this “region management system” on DVDs? It does not seem to serve a useful purpose. This is probably not the first time it has caused these kinds of problems. If I produce a video on a DVD, I would want anyone in the world to be able to view it. This dumb idea certainly does not prevent copying or distributing on the web. What were they thinking about when they did this?
38. Sir, Feck | 04.28.09
OK I have read this and these comments, and was wondering why no one has linked any of this to the European “George” S something who runs one of the strongest banks in Europe. After all is he now a socialist?, and the Gifts like the train are representitive of that and to be reminded of such items is disturbing?
Was he not the finiancial strength behind Obama and the campain? Maybe if some could look, we might find long ago a trend was brewing from that direction. Hope Geroge was not behind the collapse. That would be scary.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Topher Di Giani | 03.31.09
Obama is adored by 52% of this country but embarrassing us all in front of the world. It didn’t take long for people to see through him. Add to that the fact that he has totally wrecked the lives of those yet to be born (maybe that’s why he’s so in favor of abortion–fewer people to totally hate him for what he’s done).