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| Britain |
| President Barack Obama just plain rude to Britain. Don't call us in future. |
| 2009-03-04 |
| Why couldn't President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests? He looked like he simply couldn't be bothered. Number 10 may be content that they just about got away with the visit to the Oval Office yesterday, as Andrew Porter reports from Washington. But on this side of the Atlantic the whole business looked pretty demeaning. The morning papers and TV last night featured plenty of comment focused on the White House's very odd and, frankly, exceptionally rude treatment of a British PM. Squeezing in a meeting, denying him a full press conference with flags etc. The British press corps, left outside for an hour in the cold, can take it and their privations are of limited concern to the public. But Obama's merely warmish words (one of our closest allies, said with little sincerity or passion) left a bitter taste with this Atlanticist. Especially after his team had made Number 10 beg for a mini press conference and then not even offered the PM lunch. We get the point, sunshine: we're just one of many allies and you want fancy new friends. Well, the next time you need something doing, something which impinges on your national security, then try calling the French, or the Japanese, or best of all the Germans. The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps but beyond that you'll be on your own. When it comes to men, munitions and commitment you'll soon find out why it pays to at least treat the Brits with some manners. |
| Posted by:Yosemite Sam |
| #21 Yep, Obambi is as skilled at diplomacy as he is at economics. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-03-04 19:46 |
| #20 If we went protectionist now, who would buy our T-bills? We might be able to afford to buy them ourselves then. Or not. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-03-04 19:46 |
| #19 "The welcome wasn't warm enough, we'll take our ball and go home" Did you need the extra fluffy crying towel? |
| Posted by: flash91 2009-03-04 19:01 |
| #18 If we went protectionist now, who would buy our T-bills? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-03-04 18:53 |
| #17 ION BRITAIN, CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > BRITAIN IS CRUMBLING - LONDON TO BECOME ANOTHER BASRA? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-03-04 18:31 |
| #16 So much for the donks restoring the tarnished diplomacy which they claimed existed around the world because of the Bush administration. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-03-04 17:03 |
| #15 Just read the Telegraph and the Times. Their focus is on Brown's address to Congress and calls to avoid protectionism, which you can consider veiled criticism of Obama and Dem trade protectionist sentiments. But then Brown can and has played the competitive (currency) devaluation game in a way the USA and the Eurozone can't. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-03-04 16:52 |
| #14 But... but... America needs... (wait for it) allies! (Don't they?) |
| Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats 2009-03-04 16:14 |
| #13 Barack is just pissed because Teddy is being knighted first. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2009-03-04 16:02 |
| #12 he did this because it wasn't a middle eastern country |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-03-04 15:23 |
| #11 Hopefully someday soon Mr. Brown will have a choice of which successor state to These United States he wants to be friends with: the one who insults him while shovelling large amounts of money in his direction, or the one who will do neither. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-03-04 15:02 |
| #10 In particular, Brown has publicly announced that the US is responsible for all Britain's financial woes - and oh, by the way, he was coming to meet Obama so that they could jointly kick off a brand new international financial regime that is more to his liking. He's lucky he wasn't met by a Tea Party, especially since we're bailing out AIG in part to keep his banks more or less afloat. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-03-04 14:08 |
| #9 Prime Minister Brown and his government have been insulting the U.S. with great enthusiasm, starting when Mr. Bush was president and continuing even after Mr. Obama took office. PM Brown has made it clear they are not fond of America, so why should President Obama treat him as if the two countries are BFFs? As ye sow, so shall ye reap, and all that. Perhaps PM Brown should start earning the kind of treatment he and the British press desire. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-03-04 13:41 |
| #8 Now, now. Gordie did get to bask in the radiance of The One for a few moments. That should have been enough for a mere mortal, right? (Memo to our British friends, he's just indulging in a little "payback" of his own. It's for when you didn't let him have the photo op he wanted in London last summer. Remember his performance of "Triumph of the Swill" in Berlin? The French kissed the royal posterior properly and you didn't. Silly peasants should have stroked The One's ego when you had the chance....now he doesn't feel that he needs you. Now get out of the bloody Oval Office before you harsh his mellow.) |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-03-04 13:28 |
| #7 He wants a bust of the OTHER "Winnie" I'm sure. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-03-04 12:20 |
| #6 Yoicks. That *is* a bit frosty. Obama has also declined the continuing loan of an expensive bronze bust of Churchill that has graced the Oval Office since the end of WWII. I don't like this treatment of our true ally, but I must admit that the stories we run nearly daily here at the 'Burg are giving me much confidence in the ability (or desire, frankly) of the UK to stand against the Islamist tide. Although of course rudeness and alienation will not do much to help the Brits either. But the saying goes that nations do not have friends, or even allies pre se, just shared interests. And perhaps Obama percieves our interests to be ... diverging. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-03-04 12:14 |
| #5 Sorry Nigel. You wanted him. You bought him. All sales final. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-03-04 11:51 |
| #4 Dammit Barry, how ya gonna make Oceania without the isles?! Can't do a GD thing right. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-03-04 11:44 |
| #3 Barry will eventually have to go over there. And we all know what payback is... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-03-04 11:37 |
| #2 It is strange, isn't it: Gordo should be a natural ally for Bambi. He replaced Tony Blair, he's getting the Brits out of Iraq, he says all the 'right' things about global warning and the financial crisis, and he's a proven tax-raiser. You'd think Gordo and Bambi would get along famously. And yet Bambi really snubbed him, and snubbed him openly. Couldn't do the presser because of snow? I thought Bambi was a flinty Chicagoan who laughed at snow. It's curious. I wonder if Bambi's Kenyan blood just plain hates the Brits? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-03-04 11:33 |
| #1 The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps ... That, my friends, is how you do snark. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-03-04 11:31 |