I am beginning to wonder if President Obama is running his State Department by an old quote from Moshe Dayan: “
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” The only problem is I am not sure if he first understands who our friends are and who our enemies are. In just six weeks this man has managed to offend our greatest ally and has been insulted by some of our greatest enemies. Yet President Obama still believes he can cozy up to truly evil and malignant leaders who openly despise America while in turn he belittles our friends with no impunity. Wrong.
Starting with our friends, which admittedly even before Obama was elected, was becoming an increasingly smaller list. Our staunchest and most loyal ally is Britain, of course. They still fight side by side with our men in Afghanistan, even sending in a royal son. For decades our President and their Prime Minister have had good working relationships, and frequently close personal friendships, too. Reagan and Thatcher immediately come to mind, as does Clinton and Blair and even Bush and Blair. Now, thanks to Obama’s rudeness, not only is there no chance of a personal friendship but the official relationship is at risk.
You may have already heard about this but only if you watch Fox or read conservative websites but those who only see the MSM evening news this will be new to you. To be honest, I hadn’t even realized that Britain’s PM Gordon Brown was here last week to pay a first visit with our new president. Maybe NBC, ABC and CBS all passed on the story because it showed Obama as being either ignorant at best or extremely rude at worst. But you can be sure the story was front and center on Britain’s papers.
So what was the problem? First, someone of PM Brown’s stature expects to receive a formal press conference with the two men and a state dinner. Apparently Brown’s office had to repeatedly ask for the press conference before it was begrudgingly set up and during it Obama “looked like he would rather be anywhere else” according to a British columnist Ian Martin. As for the state dinner? Forgettaboutit. Barack and Michelle have time for their new Hollywood friends but not for our greatest ally. There was no state dinner given to Britain’s Prime Minister, even though he had changed his schedule last fall to accommodate Obama when he was visiting England. The snub couldn’t have been any more obvious. And it got even worse….
A part of the ritual of a state meeting is the exchanging of gifts. Britain gave Obama a gift that a
Downing Street spokesman said would “reflect the historic nature of the relationship between the two countries.” The gift turned out to be a pen holder made from timber of the historical anti-slave sister ship of the HMS Resolute whose timber was used to make the desk Obama was using. He also received a first edition autobiography of Winston Churchill. And in return? President Obama gave Prime Minister Brown a box of 25 DVD’s. Gee, just what he wanted; ET and Gone with the Wind. Oh, wait, it isn’t even formatted for use in England! Talk about a tacky, impersonal and disrespectful present, especially in comparison to the gift that was obviously hand picked just for Barack Obama. But the insults keep on coming.
In addition to this exchange of gifts there was also an exchange of gifts for the children. Britain gave the Obama girls dresses from a trendy store in England plus matching necklaces. The Brown boys got models of the President’s helicopter, a gift found in any DC gift store for $15. It reeks of bring picked out at the last minute.
Even before the PM’s visit, Obama was showing signs of a less than lukewarm attitude towards Great Britain. A famous bust of Churchill was loaned to President Bush after 9/11 and then the loan was extended after the 2004 election. Obama comes into office and one of the first things he does is tell the Brits he doesn’t want it here anymore. Excuse me? They were quite nonplussed and said he could keep it as a continuing sign of unity but our leader basically said thanks but no thanks and that was it. The bust is now sits in the home of the British ambassador in DC. This was an uncalled for and extremely rude and arrogant action by Obama. No wonder Britain is more than a bit nervous about their relationship with us now that Obama is president.
Some have conjectured that Obama has less than kindly thoughts towards Great Britain because of its historical treatment of Kenya, the home of Obama’s father. Additionally it was Churchill who put down the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya which included Obama’s grandfather. If this is true then it can only bode ill for our future relationship of our greatest friend. It also hints at a deception of Obama’s true loyalties. If he truly is more supportive of Kenya than Great Britain, it makes you wonder if he has been equally deceptive in his religious preferences, too. The bottom line, though, is that he will be placing the United States in a precarious situation if he continues to antagonize our friends while he simultaneously tries to cozy up to our enemies.
One last note: President Obama will be in England for the G2 Summit next month and recently received an invitation for tea with the Queen. British tabloids state that they couldn’t say yes fast enough. Amazing how quickly attitudes change when it is royalty wanting a meeting rather than the less than glamorous yet more important Prime Minister. This shows the shallow, arrogant and narcissistic personalities of President Obama and First Lady Michelle better than anything else.
these soldiers of the Greatest Generation. First, it seems so very wrong not to have the Queen be a part of these ceremonies. Perhaps these youngish men and women Presidents and Prime Ministers knew that the Queen would have upstaged all of them as the only one who actually remembered WWII. Nonetheless, she should have been included. 
demeaning to their country to be constantly reminded of the roles of their nations in WWII. I wouldn't be surprised if they are tired of being told that they should be grateful to America, England and Canada who were responsible for saving their countries. I can't find it but I recall a quote that basically says if people are forced to continuously be grateful to someone they will eventually turn on that person. Yes, we need to hold these ceremonies honoring the soldiers of D-Day and all the men and women serving in WWII. But we also should understand if the young French and Germans either no longer care or feel anger towards the US and not gratitude.
demeaning to their country to be constantly reminded of the roles of their nations in WWII. I wouldn't be surprised if they are tired of being told that they should be grateful to America, England and Canada who were responsible for saving their countries. I can't find it but I recall a quote that basically says if people are forced to continuously be grateful to someone they will eventually turn on that person. Yes, we need to hold these ceremonies honoring the soldiers of D-Day and all the men and women serving in WWII. But we also should understand if the young French and Germans either no longer care or feel anger towards the US and not gratitude.
