He probably wanted a historical gift, like tea dumped in Boston Harbor.

/notice the lack of a u.

We should have just handed them a bill for WW2.

Former empires are so cute when they get mad

I know, remember when the President refused to acknowledge that Roman Senator?

FTFA: Brown gave Obama a pen holder made from the timbers of the 19th century British warship HMS President, while Obama responded by awarding Brown a collection of classic American movie DVDs.

At least it's a step up from a hot cocoa sampler box.

Look, it's the economy, you know? If it was me, I would have just baked a pie.

What, you mean Blair pathetically got down on the Queen's carpet and smoked Bush's log for all those endless months of despair and ruin and futility, and all the UK gets for it is no warm welcome from a new President who repudiates all of Bush's stupidity?

Yeah, who could have seen that coming?

Bunch of DVDs? Maybe Brown should have given him some class.

I'm sure the Obama administration would like a do-over on this one. A bunch of DVD sets is pretty lame.

This just smacks of a last minute "Oh Sh**t, we need to exchange gifts, run out and see what you can find, here's $500"

Classy.

Buck up, because next time it's cold porridge.

Is there where the same people that would MAUL Bush for being an idiot yokel for doing the same thing claim it was just Obama trying to be nice and down to earth?

It was a gaffe. Don't even try to defend it.

/Voted for Obama

Moving from VHS to DVD--change we can believe in!

Good lord, England is biatching like some nagging housewife whose husband forgot their anniversary and got wilted roses at 7-11.

Wait til he gets home and tries to play them. Might be some incompatability problems.

I hope there in PAL

C'mon, economic times are tough, you don't want Obama wasting your tax dollars on some expensive nick-knack that's just going to go straight out of the country, right?

deltabourne: Is there where the same people that would MAUL Bush for being an idiot yokel for doing the same thing claim it was just Obama trying to be nice and down to earth?

It was a gaffe. Don't even try to defend it.

/Voted for Obama

It works both ways. The people who are finding fault with Obama for doing this would also be blasting him for wasting money during a recession if he bought an expensive gift.

International faux pas you can believe in!

Maybe we should do what the Arabic world does when they perceive (or create their own) insult.

The British press insulted our president's gift. So....


Let's gather on the street, burning the Union-Jack and effigies of the Queen and the Prime Minister, while chanting Death to Britain.


Actually, never mind, I have a lot of homework and gaming to do this weekend.

If the leader of the country that once tortured and imprisoned your grandfather came for a visit... how would you treat him?

/still, it is pretty cheap.

Yeah, and as a bonus look at the present Hillary gave to Lavrov. It was stupid, it was labelled wrong, and the letters were typed out with Latin letters instead of Cyrillic.

And she said her staff did a lot of work to make sure there are no mistakes. Meh.

This administration should refrain from giving gifts for a while.

Link (new window)

PC LOAD LETTER: We should have just handed them a bill for WW2.

Actually they just paid that off a few years ago IIRC.

I hope the UK remembers next time you guys blunder into a war.

I wonder whose job it was to come up with that gift. Somebody's gonna be in deep shiat over this one.

Tenebreux: I hope the UK remembers next time you guys blunder into a war.

Us too, their participation gave a lot more legitimacy to that blunder.

Classics?

Edsel: deltabourne: Is there where the same people that would MAUL Bush for being an idiot yokel for doing the same thing claim it was just Obama trying to be nice and down to earth?

It was a gaffe. Don't even try to defend it.

/Voted for Obama

It works both ways. The people who are finding fault with Obama for doing this would also be blasting him for wasting money during a recession if he bought an expensive gift.

Absolutely.

Also, the "gift" wasn't one that you go out and buy at Wal-Mart. It was a special assembled collection by the American Film Institute at behest of the President's administration.

Seriously, these people need to get their heads on straight. They rail into Obama for holding a "cocktail party" to celebrate black history month for a bunch of 7th graders (since when do 7th graders drink cocktails? Nice terminology there), yet they think he's too cheap by not giving the Brits George Washington's false teeth or something stupid.

Just more crap from the crappy people who hate the fact that their political arguments are, well, crap.

Edsel: It works both ways. The people who are finding fault with Obama for doing this would also be blasting him for wasting money during a recession if he bought an expensive gift.

Considering one is good diplomacy and the other isn't, if he's going to get blasted either way he might as well do the right thing.

TwistedFark: Also, the "gift" wasn't one that you go out and buy at Wal-Mart. It was a special assembled collection by the American Film Institute at behest of the President's administration.

Yep, I'm sure the Prime Minister of Britain would have a tough time laying his hands on a copy of Citizen Kane.

Well first, how many movies and logically, next, what movies were they? If they we're criterion edition and Kubrick, England can STFU right now cause that is far cooler then a lousy pen holder.

deltabourne: /Voted for Obama

Wow, didn't expect that one.

But yeah, that's a really crappy gift. I can't believe they weren't able to come up with anything better.

Or maybe it was revenge for that godawful Churchill bust.

Isn't the pen holder made from the wood of the HMS Reliant, same as the desk in the Oval Office? That's actually a pretty good gift. To take that and offer a bunch of DVDs, which I'm sure Brown could easily buy at any UK department store, is honestly pretty insulting.

While we're on the subject, the Reset Button in Russia was also idiotic, and would still be idiotic even if they got the right word. It's the sort of half-assed patronizing gimmick loved by middle management in offices around America. I'd be seriously insulted if that's what I got.

deltabourne: Considering one is good diplomacy and the other isn't, if he's going to get blasted either way he might as well do the right thing.

After the previous president, not throwing feces at the other leader is a step up in terms of diplomacy.

Franco: Well first, how many movies and logically, next, what movies were they? If they we're criterion edition and Kubrick, England can STFU right now cause that is far cooler then a lousy pen holder.

25, and a whole litany of different ones. I think at least one Kubrick movie was in there. I recall major films from Wells, Spielberg and Lucas as well as some others.

Yes, Obama didn't handle this perfectly, but he's new. I'll give him a pass on this one. IF 5 years in he starts rubbing the shoulders of a foreign leader, I'll be more critical.

I would think that Hillary's translation gaffe is much more embarrassing than the DVD debacle seeing how tenuous our relationship is with Russia right now.

I do think that in light of the gifts Brown gave Obama, our gifts in turn should of been of a higher quality. Maybe it's because the Obama administration is still so green.

The whole thing is not worth all this outrage though.

Franco: Well first, how many movies and logically, next, what movies were they? If they we're criterion edition and Kubrick, England can STFU right now cause that is far cooler then a lousy pen holder.

Daily Mail link (new window)

The films, to be fair it wasn't exactly a box-set from the high street:



And it was more than a "lousy pen holder":

The Prime Minister gave Mr Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

The unique present delighted Mr Obama because oak from the Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880.

Mr Brown also handed over a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

I think it's a good gift, considering the state of the Economy. I think it's funny, so much press is being burned on the subject. Should he have given him 40 virgins, and a golden calf? Seems as if he gave him a gift that can rest in his home, and not in the Govt. coffers.



/WWII and their freedom wasn't all that damn cheap.
//kicking their asses for freedom wasn't cheap either
///didn't Hillary give Russia a farking push button?

saintstryfe: After the previous president, not throwing feces at the other leader is a step up in terms of diplomacy.

I don't think "Slightly better than Bush" is an accomplishment. The whole beginner thing doesn't hold water - Obama is a smart politician with a staff that IS experienced. There's no way they didn't know what they were doing with this gift -- my sense is that it is a "snub" in a sense (not really a snub per say, but a way of pulling back from the kind of relationship maybe Brown expected)

Yea, apparently Obama and his staff were all just too 'tired' to handle this. I'm perfectly sure that nobody would possibly try to take advantage of that at all... Link (new window)

The British look really chintzy for complaining so loudly about this.

Some protocol officer is going to get canned.

The sad thing is that it's actually not a bad gift - a movie set put together by the AFI? Movies are a archetypical American cultural tradition and one to take pride in. The authorized White House set with the cool seal etc.? Sign me up.

It's just not a very suitable gift for the occasion.

Franco: Well first, how many movies and logically, next, what movies were they? If they we're criterion edition and Kubrick, England can STFU right now cause that is far cooler then a lousy pen holder.

It was a collection of 25 pretty good movies. Stuff like Wizard of Oz, Lawrence of Arabia, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Item from Daily Fail website:

Obama GAVE a bunch of CDs to the prime minister?! WHEN PEOPLE ARE LOOSING THEIR HOMES!!! WHAT A DOUCHE BAG

DemonEater: C'mon, economic times are tough, you don't want Obama wasting your tax dollars on some expensive nick-knack that's just going to go straight out of the country, right?

It's called "Smart Power". A term that Clinton and Obama loved to talk about at the start of his administration. Obama had no problem flying Air Force One to Columbus, Ohio to do a 12 minute speech bragging about 25 jobs he saved or created with his stimulus spending bill. He would have been better suited not re-gifting one of our oldest and closest allies. This is not the only snub Obama has done to the British, he sent back the bust of Churchill the British gave the US after 9/11. They never requested or expected its return.

Damnit Redscum.

saintstryfe: After the previous president, not throwing feces at sexually assaulting the other leader is a step up in terms of diplomacy.

FTFY

studleystudstutterson: Damnit Redscum.

I'm sorry ;)

deltabourne: Is there where the same people that would MAUL Bush for being an idiot yokel for doing the same thing claim it was just Obama trying to be nice and down to earth?

It was a gaffe. Don't even try to defend it.

/Voted for Obama

So true.

gopher321: Bunch of DVDs? Maybe Brown should have given him some class.

burn!

brainiac-dumdum: I would think that Hillary's translation gaffe is much more embarrassing than the DVD debacle seeing how tenuous our relationship is with Russia right now.

I do think that in light of the gifts Brown gave Obama, our gifts in turn should of been of a higher quality. Maybe it's because the Obama administration is still so green.

The whole thing is not worth all this outrage though.

I'm not a regular reader, but I have the impression that the Daily Mail is constantly outraged.

They're classic movies, but there's obviously a disparity in the quality of gifts. I'm sure Obama's people made a note somewhere to do better next time.

Giving a red button to the Russians, though? Seriously? While agreeing to set up disarmament talks? Whoever thought this was a good idea should be left in Russia.

PC LOAD LETTER: We should have just handed them a bill for WW2.

Nice try but we've already paid that off.

soy_bomb:
It's called "Smart Power". A term that Clinton and Obama loved to talk about at the start of his administration. Obama had no problem flying Air Force One to Columbus, Ohio to do a 12 minute speech bragging about 25 jobs he saved or created with his stimulus spending bill. He would have been better suited not re-gifting one of our oldest and closest allies. This is not the only snub Obama has done to the British, he sent back the bust of Churchill the British gave the US after 9/11. They never requested or expected its return.

It's what's called "tongue-in-cheek post", or these days, "trolling" I guess :P

I think this is pretty hilarious. Comedians will be getting mileage out of this one for a while. Maybe not as long as Gerald Ford pitching himself off the Air Force One steps, Dan Quayle misspelling common vegetables, or Clinton's misuse of a perfectly good cigar, but it'll be up there.

Waiting for Colbert to pick this up and run with it.

I'm an Obama supporter and still support him, but this and the Hillary Clinton thing are incredibly lame and amateur.

I realized they're busy all saving the world's economy from collapsing and with that whole un-invading a country thing, but they're supposed to have top-notch support staff who are capable of helping them handle this stuff. The DVDs are something you buy for your favorite uncle.

The British gift, in contrast, was incredibly cool and fitting.

from liverpool1892's link:

"The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "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."

Oh that is smooth