Unflattering: the White House released only one photograph of Michelle Obama
and Sarah Brown together
Posted on 03/04/2009 10:47:24 PM PST by bruinbirdman
It was all going so well. The dresses, the brains, the Vogue cover shoot – everything so far about Michelle Obama has left us wide-mouthed in admiration. It seemed there was no end to her fabulousness. Then Mr and Mrs Brown came to stay.
Unflattering: the White House released only one photograph of Michelle Obama
and Sarah Brown together
Like all good guests, Sarah Brown arrived bearing gifts for the children, Malia and Sasha. And they were really nice presents. A bit of thought had clearly gone into choosing them: Top Shop dresses (with matching necklaces) and a selection of books by British authors. Lovely.
Mrs Brown may have two boys but she certainly knows the way to a little girl’s heart. These were gifts chosen in the true spirit of present-giving: to please the recipient, not the giver.
In return Mrs Obama gave the Brown children, Fraser and John, two toy models of Marine One, the Presidential helicopter. Fair enough on the helicopter part, always a popular choice with small boys; but Marine One? It’s not as though anyone needs reminding that Barack Obama is President or that he has his own helicopter. Short of giving the boys Action Man models of her own husband smiting the evil forces of neoconservatism, Mrs Obama’s gesture could not have been more solipsistic or more inherently dismissive of Mrs Brown.
Not only did she demonstrate that she spent approximately three seconds contemplating the needs of the Brown boys (having an aide pop to the White House gift shop for a piece of merchandising does not imply a great deal of thought), she appeared to show a most uncharacteristic lapse of judgment.
It might have been possible to overlook the incident were it not
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Notice Mrs. Brown's somewhat alarmed countenance...is she going to throw something?
Talk about shabby treatment. It sucks when people have given you a pass your whole life and suddenly, it’s you who is supposed to be gracious. Having been the recipient of grace their whole lives, the two of them are convinced they earned it or somehow deserved it. The pass was given to make the giver feel inclusive and progressive...it really had little to do with you Mr. & Mrs. Obama.
Perhaps now that you are on the other end, you might understand the relationship a little better.
Have you ever seen Trilogy of Terror with karen Black
the photo is spot on
What REALLY happened:
Michelle and Barry were all busy making hors douvres and canapes for the Earth,Wind & Fire conga party blowout the next night and with the constraints of time “forgot” to go to Tysons Corner Mall and buy gifts for the Browns. So Michelle called down to the WH slaves .. er .. staff, and asked them if there was any leftover WH crap that she could slough off on the First Family of the UK. Apparently, they ran out of the “HONK IF U HATE W” bumper stickers.
That was my thought as well.
I don’t blame her, I blame the staff. They are supposed to plan for and take care of these things. This sort of thing is a bad reflection on the US.
No doubt they were probably very proper in their Thank You's to the First Lady.
Nevertheless, the article is to show the callous disingenuousness of the Obamas and their staffs in their (in)ability to understand the wider world apart from their own insular one of Chicago and their attempted haughty, holir-than-thou attitudes.
BO's attempt to get the world to like us, as if that is a goal this nation should consider worthy, will ultimately fail, as he has no clue what other nations really want from the U.S. He and his administration will flounder about for the next 4 years until the phrase "Jimmy Carter, the Second" is ringing in his ears.
The next Ronald Reagan better get up and start showing us who he is pretty soon, as this economic crisis can only worsen before it gets better. And we, the U.S., not just Republicans, are going to need a mighty strong leader come 2012.
We no longer have a First Lady.
She is many things, but First Lady isn’t one of them.
Our friends across the pond must be as aghast as we are.
What’s strange is MO is not a stupid woman. At all.
You know Condi must be itching to help set her act straight.
I disagree with both of you. There is such a thing as protocol in the White House and the Obamas better hit the books and get up to speed. It’s not about the kids, it’s about knowing how to properly host foreign dignitaries. Not to mention representatives of a country which is a major friend to the US. It’s about representing the American people to the representative of the people of the UK.
The Obamas show a distinctive lack of graciousness and hospitality.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Could Gordon Brown’s first visit to the Obama Administration gone any worse? If they had tried they couldn’t have mucked this up any worse than they did — both MO and BHO screwed the goose and the Brits are the one’s printing it! Bush was hated by the Brits and he was nothing, if not very gracious to Blair AND Brown!
Well, when your staff consists of the greatest minds in the nation who are required to be tax cheats and yet can’t figure out TurboTax (a program which a chimpanzee could figure out), this is what you get!
It sure looks like they are snubbing. What the Obamas seem to have never had and probably never will is class and manners. Only low rents snub so everyone will know.
It is protocol and the Obama’s blew this entire visit — both of them blew it. O with the non-presser and MO with her visit with Mrs. Brown. Made the USA look very bad.
Done passive-aggressive style!
The Brits have a right to be peeved. Just wait till Kenya’s dictator visits DC. He’ll be treated like royalty by the 0bammys
No coincidence that 0 dissed a white European nation. It’s the politics of racial resentment. Done passive-aggressive style!
maybe that was the point..to make the USA look bad
what do they care
If you blame the staff instead of the First Lady, then she probably did not do so well choosing her staff, did she?
I hope the left finally understands how the foreign (European) media will bash anything American, no matter who’s in power and no matter how trivial.
The Bushes had to put up with this nonsense for 8 years. Maybe the Times can focus on issues that actually matter, such as Brown’s incompetence in handling the financial crisis.
They just have no class.
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