Posted on 03/09/2009 3:52:00 AM PDT by Libloather
British press aghast at 'cheap' Obama gift
March 07, 2009
British newspapers are upset over what they see as rude treatment given to Prime Minister Gordon Brown by U.S. President Barack Obama this week, observers say.
The London dailies criticized Obama's treatment of Brown during his state visit to Washington this week on several fronts, including alleged cheap gift-giving, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.
President Obama has been rudeness personified toward Britain, The Daily Telegraph wrote Friday. His handling of the visit of the prime minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling.
The main point of contention was an alleged gift-giving snub. 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.
Oh, give me strength, the Daily News quoted an appalled Daily Telegraph staffer as writing. We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic.
When trying to improve ties with a former Cold War-era foe, check a dictionary. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learned that lesson the hard way on Friday, when she presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a gift bearing an incorrect translation - one that implied hostility, rather than peacemaking.
It seems that someone in the U.S. State Department forgot to double check the translation. Anyone with a sense of the Russian language, and there are quite a few in the State Department, could have told Clinton that there is a mistake in translation.
Clinton handed Lavrov a palm-sized box with a gift-wrapped red button on a black base, which said "Reset" in English and "Peregruzka" in Russian (with Latin script instead of Cyrillic, which could count as another gaffe). The problem was "peregruzka" doesn't mean reset. It means overcharged or overloaded.
Lavrov opened it and pulled out the gift. Clinton said she was presenting the gift because it "represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is, 'We want to reset our relationship.' And so we will do it together."
"We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?" Clinton asked Lavrov.
"You got it wrong," Lavrov said. "This says 'peregruzka,' which means overcharged."
After the two top diplomats stopped laughing, Clinton said: "We won't let you do that to us, I promise."
Clinton adviser Philippe Reines said "Opechatka [Russian for typo] is being fixed, the gift will correctly read 'Perezagruzka'."
Russian media have been making fun at the US Secretary of State over this translation error.
http://politicom.moldova.org/news/hillary-clintons-gaffe-pushes-wrong-button-with-russians-188042-eng.html
she musta got her dip tips from Plugs
They are both an embarrassment.
This is what happens when children are put in charge. Brother, you asked for it.
You about photo says it all,
Thanks for your service and may GOD bless.
Stay safe soldier.
“We worked hard to get the right Russian word...”
She got it right the first time. So much for a Yale education.
0bama blows off the Brits, but he could hardly wait to run off and give his first interview as President to an Arabic station in the middle east...
And just wait until he rolls out the red carpet for 0dinga and Mugabe.
Well, what do you know. There’s no one in the State Department who speaks Russian.
To the office,country and it’s people sorry Mr Brown.
Actually, this kind of treatment from the Obama-ites is a compliment: they showed the same kind of contempt for Sarah Palin.
Cheers!
Friends in the UK...keep in mind that 145 MILLION eligible voters did NOT for the Kenyan. Every country has its share of morons, unfortunately.
More than likely the DVD set was made in Mexico, was bought for less than a dollar, is in Region 1 code and thus unable to be played in the Region 2 of the UK, UK is PAL format, the US is NTSC, its a copyright thing.
So basically this “gift” is worthless trash.
Way to go Obama, burn all the bridges so your enemies cannot sneak up on you?
It might not have been a gaffe, but part of the plan to sink the US.
Maybe Gordon Brown needs to do what I did. Goto Ebay and buy a region free player. I have Philips model which plays PAL and NTSC and just about anything else including Divx and has a thumb drive. All for 50 bucks.
Hillary was just standing there giggling her fat butt off as the Russian informed her they had made an error, but I bet she wants grinning when she tore into whoever screwed it up.
Perhaps a new alert status, in addition to the flying ashtray alert?
“Oh, give me strength,”
I’m laughing at my desk. Now others are seeing first hand what America has put in the White House.
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