On Wednesday at a joint conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mr. Obama made a pass at acknowledging the special relationship. Unfortunately, he inadvertently broke a cardinal protocol by at one stage using England to denote U.K.
“We owe so much to England; that when you come here there’s that sense of familiarity, as well as difference, that makes it just a special place,” he said, leaving Wales, Northern Ireland and Mr. Brown’s home country of Scotland out in the cold.
But in a statement to make any republican-minded Scots wince, Mr. Obama conceded one thing he loved about the U.K. — the Queen.
Glad we have the WSJ to report on such things since the major news outlets hardly even whispers about these constant flubs of his.
Oh, but they reported on each one of Bush’s like it was the top headline news story of the day.
See author page
Criminy, again? I really am beginning to think he’s actively trying to alienate our allies. For what reason, I can’t fathom, but it really looks like this stuff is intentional.
On the other hand, maybe PM Brown will invite him and Michelle to dinner and serve haggis.
“I am very, very proud to live in a country that is willing to elect an elegant man president.”
Isn’t England the 57th state? It seems that when he travels a lot, such as during the campaign, he becomes almost Bidenesque in his capacity to unhinge his lower jaw and swallow one or both of his shoes at once. Maybe he needs a longer extension cord on the teleprompter or a lesson in political geography or even a history class.
As for the Queen, Obama should leave Elton John out of this and no, despite Harvey Milk’s success at the Oscars, Sean Penn has not been coronated. Fortunately for us all, for the same reason that Penn will not wear the crown and Obama will not find a place on Mount Rushmore, their heads are far too large.
What an embarrassment! Between this and giving the Queen an IPod which she already has, Obama appears so inapt and a goof. What is his State Depart doing? I am beginning to think Hillary is doing this on purpose to him.
http://franklinslocke.blogspot.com/
President Obama was speaking from LONDON ENGLAND
I think Obama reflected and was sincere in speaking about the special relationship and reinforcing the Anglo-American relationship.
Sean Penn ~~
A Self-Made Fool.
A buffoon to the world outside the 90210 zip code, yet totally unaware, unable to hear the snickering inside the bubble where he lives, crafted from his own oversized ego.
I Blast – no you cant get away with it .
Why does the US owe so much to England & not Scotland Wales & Nth Ireland? These all contributed American settlers , they were ALL in the wars & re part of Royal history since 12-1300 ad.
As a constitutional lawyer (alleged) he ought know the exact ramifications .
You know Scott, it’s interesting that you should mention Bush in this context. He winked at the Queen and said she helped us celebrate the bicentennial “in 1776.”
Maybe the reason the press reported Bush’s gaffes is that they were pretty darn funny. I mean, come on, passing out while eating a pretzel? And coming to and seeing the dogs staring at him as if to say “What happened, man?”
The late Phil Hartmann once did a sketch on SNL as Clinton in which the cops got called to the WH on a domestic call and he was wearing a “wife-beater” (ironically), had a black eye, and was sniffling. That was darn funny too.
That’s the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship. We can poke fun at our President. He works for us.
I think we should cut Obama a break here. Most folks don’t know that Great Britain and the United Kingdom are the same place; that England is a part of both along with Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland also called Belfast. I’m sure Obama was too busy studying the US Constitution and the many ways it can be ignorred to keep up with something as trivial as geography.
The actual name of the sovreign state, however, is neither Great Britain nor United Kingdom. It is United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
@ Indigo: I’m not entirely sure I want to give a Commander in Chief a “break” on geographical stupidity… otherwise I’d be wondering if the guy knew what country and region he’s committing our troops to… and how many Guard he’d pull from the “57” states in the US.
groan…
Hey… 57. I think I get it now. Maybe he was hanging around John “baby killer” Kerry and Teresa, the Heinz 57 queen too much.
@Indigo
The UK and Great Britain aren’t the exactly the same place – in a similar way that the United States of America and North America aren’t exactly the same place. Bascially Northern Ireland isn’t part of Great Britain. And I don’t understand what you mean by
‘Northern Ireland also called Belfast’? Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland – they are not interchangable terms.
@Time Traveller
Okay – imagine if the President was in Edinburgh and said this….
“We owe so much to Scotland; that when you come here there’s that sense of familiarity, as well as difference, that makes it just a special place,”
Do you think the English would get in a huff because it was left out? Nope – as the English don’t have such a big chip on it’s shoulder.
I wouldn’t put it past her. Time to start the 2012 watch?
i love the whole foot in the mouth thing, he is making our lives so much more pleasant by being an idiot. i can get a pass on being ignorant, i am “only” a hair dresser and only went to high school, that man ism presdient of this natino and should know better as a constitutional law attorny. for being as smart as he supposedly is and all his little freaky people keep telling us he is he is sure making alot for very big mistakes. i know more about geography than he does and i would have also assumed that the queen had an i-pod. shit, who doesn’t have an i-pod?
The Obama’s are self anointed American Royalty now so they feel like they have a lot in common with the Queen. Arrogant & Ignorant beyond belief & an embarrassment to the Nation. Affirmative Action Ivy League products both. No Class Period!
The Queen is also arrogant & an embarrassment to a nation.
The idiot gave the Queen and IPOD!!!!!
That by itself is extremely emarrassing… what a complete and total moron.
A freakng Ipod…
@bigpapa
An Ipod with pictures of her last U.S. visit, and video of his 2004 convention speech, and his inauguration speech. I guess they didn’t have any spare copies of his books lying around. I think he should have gone with his first instinct, some $1.99 bath beads, a “cinnamon roll” scented candle, and a humorous greeting card.
@Lightbringer:
Or any of this items:
http://www.asseenontvandmore.com/
She does have pets:
http://www.asseenontvandmore.com/bpets.html
bigpapa, Lightbringer, luva the scissors,
The President gave the Queen an Ipod… and it had many AMERICAN MUSICALS downloaded onto it. In addition he gave her a RARE songbook signed by a Broadway composer. Regardless if she “had” an Ipod or not, the content is what he was giving… American cultural treasures.
Should we be angry that the Queen gave him a framed photo of herself and the Duke? Hell, she gives that out to everyone… aren’t we supposed to be special? Isn’t that a slap at the great Anglo-American special relationship? I will answer that. The gifts (unless it is a flaming bag of dog crap) are really meaningless in the big picture.
So far President Obama has doe well in the UK, promoting America. First Lady Michelle Obama was wearing JCrew clothes, thus promoting an American Companies products. They are generating a lot of good will, so what is wrong with that?
@blast:
But, what is he promoting? This White House bunch can even keep thier ph numbers straight, good thing the Queen got an IPOD instead of a cell phone.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/02/white-house-corrects-toll-free-number-mishap/
Ummm… with all the real problems and discussions that were going on in London, is this really news?
@blast:
You must be assuming journalists can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. And, yes it is news that,
that we have White House staff that can’t take the extra care to double check a simple phone number. Now that their rediculous error is in publication they just might be a bit more careful in the future, maybe “reset” their work ethics. I tend to doubt it though.
@blast:
blast,
“Clean-up on aisle 7; bring a mop!”
You’re going to wear the characters off of your keyboard with your constant excuse-making for this man. Don’t be so thin skinned.
One question you can help me with since I don’t spend a lot of time checking out clothing labels…is JCrew American made or just owned? Do they make all of their clothing in the U.S. or just the territories or in other countries too. Just trying to figure out the significance of your interest in women’s clothing.
JCrew sells mens and womens clothes, they are an American company. Where their products are produced, why don’t you look that up instead of diminishing the fact that the First Lady is using this world stage to present an American company’s products. Maybe you are wearing out your keyboard to try to tear down anything that might seem to be positive about Pres Obama or his wife?