Obama at his generous best

Mark Steyn in the National Review Online on why the President’s presents won’t be eagerly anticipated abroad

BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown thought long and hard about what gift to bring on his visit to the White House last week. The Prime Minister gave him an ornamental desk pen-holder hewn from the timbers of one of the Royal Navy’s anti-slaving ships of the 19th century, HMS Gannet. Even more appropriate, in 1909 the Gannet was renamed HMS President. The president’s guest also presented him with the framed commission for HMS Resolute, the lost British ship retrieved from the Arctic and returned by America to London, and whose timbers were used for a thank-you gift Queen Victoria sent to Rutherford Hayes: the handsome desk that now sits in the Oval Office. And, just to round things out, as a little stocking stuffer, Brown gave President Obama a first edition of Sir Martin Gilbert’s seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill. In return, America’s head of state gave the Prime Minister 25 DVDs of classic American movies. Evidently, the White House gift shop was all out of “my government delegation went to Washington and all I got was this lousy T-shirt” T-shirts. Still, the classic American movies set is a pretty good substitute, and it can set you back as much as $38.99 at Wal-Mart. It could be worse. The president might have given him the DVD of He’s Just Not That Into You.

Is that for real? Mark wonders whether Brown will even be able to view the movies;

I’ll be interested to know if Mr. Brown has anything to play the films on back home, since U.S.-format DVDs don’t work in United Kingdom DVD players.

Class act, Obama! The Chicago Sun-Times carries the story line as well. One commenter notes;

Not to be out done in tastelessness by her husband, Michelle got into the act, too. Mrs. Brown came bearing two outfits for the Obama girls from Topshop, one of Britain’s trendiest and expensive women’s wear retail outlets. In return, Michelle apparently had a staffer run down to the White House gift shop and grab two toy Marine One helicopter models for the Brown’s boys. Class all the way, huh?

And this Obama lover calling himself American Patriot echoes his President’s obvious opinion.

That gift was too good for a pig like Brown. Obama doesn’t trust the British because he’s much smarter than Bush was.

Yeah…right! That statement pretty well typifies the Obama crowd in one sentence. Ah…the consequences of elections. Good luck Uncle Sam.