Is it Real, or is it Memorex?

It may come as a surprise to some but I do have an emotional side and a logical side. And the left side, the logical one, is why I pussy-footed around one issue in yesterday’s post. I’m a Brit or, more accurately I was born a Brit and so that was one little smidgeon of my reticence as I did not want to come across as “whiny”. Then, yesterday at least, it seemed insignificant and I didn’t have all the facts. And, maybe I still don’t, but I do have an opinion. No surprise there?

Before I start, let me put on record that I detest Gordon Brown’s politics. Not quite as much as Obama’s but close ….

That said though, he is the British Head of State, ignoring the Queen which I would like to. Anyway, Brown visited Washington this week and as the representative of the oldest and the most loyal of our allies, he was treated shabbily.

Ignore the bust of Winston Churchill, given by the British people to America and returned immediately as reported in my last post. But consider this; it’s been a tradition for many years that when heads of state meet for the first time that gifts be exchanged. And they were.

Brown’s gifts to Obama were:-

An ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet once named HMS President. Obama was so delighted he has already put it in pride of place in the Oval Office on the Resolute desk which was carved from timbers of Gannet’s sister ship, HMS Resolute.

Another treasure given to the U.S. President was the framed commission for HMS Resolute, a vessel that came to symbolize Anglo-US peace when it was saved from ice packs by Americans and given to Queen Victoria.

Finally, Brown gave a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert

And, then; guess what? Obama presented Brown with a boxed set of 25 DVDs of American movies. In Obama’s defense, they were still in the original plastic wrap and it seems that Michelle had risked her very expensive nail job by scratching off the Costco price tag.

But, there is more to American generosity than that. Michelle presented not 1 but 2 toy helicopter models of Marine 1. Retail price in the White House Gift Store. Maybe $19.95. In Toys r’Us? Maybe half of that.

Ok, I hear you say. That’s all fluff and perhaps it is. But sometimes little things hurt and I know this has hurt our oldest ally.

My only hope is that when Michelle dashed off to Costco for the DVD's she remembered that the European format is different. In other words, the U.S. ones won't work. Or maybe that was deliberate too?

So, Obama voters must decide.

Is it naiveté?

Is it stupidity?

Is it deliberate?

Is it real or is it Memorex?