Posted on 03/04/2009 7:09:56 PM PST by reprobate
Why couldn't President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests? He looked like he simply couldn't be bothered.
Number 10 may be content that they just about got away with the visit to the Oval Office yesterday, as Andrew Porter reports from Washington.
But on this side of the Atlantic the whole business looked pretty demeaning. The morning papers and TV last night featured plenty of comment focused on the White House's very odd and, frankly, exceptionally rude treatment of a British PM. Squeezing in a meeting, denying him a full press conference with flags etc. The British press corps, left outside for an hour in the cold, can take it and their privations are of limited concern to the public.
But Obama's merely warmish words (one of our closest allies, said with little sincerity or passion) left a bitter taste with this Atlanticist. Especially after his team had made Number 10 beg for a mini press conference and then not even offered the PM lunch.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
Obama’s grandfather worked as a servant for a British officer who was a part of the British colonial administration in Kenya.
Obama discusses this at length in his book, “Dreams of My Father.” He deeply resents the British colonization of Kenya and considers it a very personal matter.
Telegraph is not the lefty paper, it is the righty paper among the British broadsheets. The Times is center-left and of course the Guardian is way, way left.
He isn’t even a British citizen. Even if the ‘birthers’ ideas are true, it makes him a Kenyan citizen, not a British one (although he would have been for the first couple of years of his life, and he might have been a British subject until 1983).
I suppose what concerns me is that in a discussion which partly hinges around correct definitions of aspects of US citizenship, I don’t think it helps matters to be using inaccurate definitions concerning the citizenship of other countries.
If Barack Obama was born in Kenya in 1961, then he was born a British subject and also a Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (which can be simplified as British citizen). He would have ceased to be a British citizen near the end of 1963 and became a citizen of Kenya, though he would still have been a British subject until the 1st January 1983 when the British Nationality Act of 1981 almost eliminated the category of British subject across the entire Commonwealth (a small number of people entitled to no other citizenship status are allowed to retain their status as British subjects until death, to avoid a situation where people who previously enjoyed the diplomatic protection of the Crown were left with no protection at all)
Does anyone know when PM Brown got the offer of a speech before a joint session of Congress? Consolation prize?
He could not have been more offhand or insincere if the PM had been a bouquet of red roses and the White House had been Ground Zero.
Well, Europe fell all over themselves pleading for us to elect Mister “Hopey Changey.” Now I guess they’ll just have to put up with it for four years, as will we!
Don't think that Israel is thrilled with him either.
Is there a good body language expert in the Freep house? I saw the presser and would like to know why 0dumba had his hand on his chin most the time. (I did that kind of stuff when I was in my early 20s, and uncomfortable with myself...)
Just a comment about a polite British leader.
My son is often assigned as a bodyguard or building guard for foreign dignitaries. The other day, former PM Tony Blair was visiting a building in Washington, and in the course of walking thru it, he went over and introduced himself to the security officers, including my son, and thanked them for doing their jobs.
My son, a combat veteran, was delighted that Blair did this. He was treated better by him than by some American officials.
Shows that there are still a few people with class.
He will put on quite a show when the Africans and Arabs come to visit.
...and by the end of his term we will be celebrating Ramadan and Kwanza.
The British PM should have said he was from Iran or Cuba or Venezuela....he would have been welcomed with open arms.
You’re right—I was thinking of the Guardian.
Neither is Afghanistan, or it’s president! He’s treating Pres. Karzai(sp?) like dirt too!
But maybe if they had been invited to something, it would be to a Snoop Doggy Dog concert/ Wednesday after low-life bash. Perhaps Mr. Brown should thank God for his near escape.
Left a bad taste in my mouth here on THIS side of the pond too. What a maroon.
President Barack Obama just plain rude to Britain. Don’t call us in future.
Telegraph ‘blogs | Iain Martin | March 4, 2009
Posted on 03/04/2009 3:04:11 AM PST by Maggie Maggie Maggie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2198814/posts
Love the tagline...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.