He gave Gordon Brown 25 DVDs? Really?
Ξ March 5th, 2009 | → Comments Off | ∇ Politics |
From The Daily Mail:
As he headed back home from Washington, Gordon Brown must have rummaged through his party bag with disappointment.
Because all he got was a set of DVDs. Barack Obama, the leader of the world’s richest country, gave the Prime Minister a box set of 25 classic American films – a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks.
Mr Brown is not thought to be a film buff, and his reaction to the box set is unknown. But it didn’t really compare to the thoughtful presents he had brought along with him.
Marking the special relationship: The Browns put a lot of thought into their gifts for the Obamas – but the gesture did not seem to be reciprocated
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.
Now, I’m not the biggest fan of Gordon Brown. I thought he wasn’t as serious about the Special Relationship or Islamic Extremism as Tony Blair. But I have to admit, his gifts his gifts were stunningly symbolic of the relationship between America and the US, and showed a great deal of thought and effort. It’s not like there are slivers of the HMS Resolute just lying around everywhere. Considering that one of Obama’s first actions in the White House was to remove the bust of Winston Churchill loaned to Bush by Blair - in spite of British offers to continue the loan – attempting to match Brown’s impressive gifts with a DVD set of the greatest American movies (not even Bluray!) is at least clumsy, and at worst insulting. Given the nature of DVD’s, I hope Obama was at least thoughtful enough to get Region 2 PAL discs needed to play in Britain rather than the Region 1 NTSC discs that only work in America.
Given that Gordon Brown is a Labour Prime Minister (so one would think they share a lot of ideological common ground) on the ropes, you’d think Obama would show a little bit more grace and class.
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