Foreign relations is an important part of any presidency, but it is pertinent when it is with an ally. Britain is our good ally friend. We have worked well together throughout the 20th century, and have continued this fruitful relationship into the new millennium. It would make sense, then, to keep being nice and thoughtful to this Father nation of ours.
If your predecessor was given a gift in a time of strife, would you return it when the strife was over? Ok, let's put it this way. Say you are a teacher at an elementry school, teaching 3rd grade. You retire, and leave behind a statue of Mozart, a gift from one of the other teachers, in your room. It was a special gift, but you figured it served its purpose better in the room with other 3rd graders.
This is the situation for George W. Bush, President Obama, and a bust of Winston Churchill. We need to go back to the time following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Then British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the President Bush a bust of Winston Churchill, the great British statesman who worked hard with America to solve the problems of the early 20th century. The gift was put on desplay in the White House, a token of friendship between nations, so that any British or American citizen who was in the White House would know of the friendship between the countries. It is similar to the Statue of Liberty.
Here's where Obama comes in. Upon taking office, Obama returned the bust to Britain. He did not give it to Bush as a farewell present, or keep it on display. He returned it to its sender.
Is it just me, or is that kinda rude. BUT that's not all.
A few days ago, the new Prime Minister of Britain, Gordon Brown, came to visit Obama, gearing up for the G20 meeting. Obama, as is customary in all parts of the world, had some gifts for his guest (if you don't think that gift giving for guests is customary, think of it this way: you offer guests something to eat. That is a gift. QED). For the Prime Minister, the Obama's gave a collection of 25 American DVDs, including The Wizard of Oz, ET, and Star Wars.
I hope he didn't give him The Patriot or Braveheart.
I think this is the list, but I'm not sure. It may be a fake.
The gifts to the Brown children were not too exciting. The Obamas gave the two Brown sons each a model of Marine One, the President's helicopter.
In comparison, Prime Minister Brown gave President Obama an ornate pen holder made from the wood of the HMS Gannet, an anti-slavery ship that sailed the Atlantic during the 1800s. What makes this gift particularly special is that the sister ship of the HMS Gannet, the HMS Resolute, was used to make the large wood desk in the Oval Office back in the 1880s. Mr. Obama also received, in the words of The Daily Mail (the British paper that reported this story), "a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert. "
I wonder if the Churchill biography is a backhanded gift. Reject the bust, take the biography.
The Obama girls each recieved an outfit from Topshop, a British clothing line, and six books by British authors which have not yet been published in America.
I like those gifts. I wish I had gotten them. If President Obama is reading this: CAN I HAVE YOUR GIFTS???? I mean, its better than returning to the senders.
So what have we learned here? Is it time to bash Obama? Is this time for ad hominem attacks?
Nope. It's time for the moral of the story:
Don't let the Obama's go Christmas shopping for you.
