The Obama's Royal Visit: Do they even like the British?

You know, I am constantly told how much “smarter” the Obamas are to us “common folk”, but even I knew there were certain things you didn’t do in the presence of the Queen of England. Of course you didn’t hear, especially seeing how the Press is fawning over the “awesomeness” of having their “Messiah” meeting someone of actual importance, so let’s start this at the beginning.

I do my best to keep up to date with these stories, seeing how this administration seems to abuse its power on a regular basis, but I save my blog entries for the more interesting stories, ones which really strike me. To Canadians, the Queen is an important figurehead, or at least a controversial subject at the dinner table. I personally believe that maintaining the Queen’s position in our political structure is an important gesture of friendship to the British people, and to abolish the monarchy’s place in Canadian society would cause serious damage to Canada’s relationship with the United Kingdom. This isn’t something that most Americans even think about, however. Americans are more concerned with how they are perceived by the British people when their leaders go to meet the Prime Minister and the Royal Family. With that said, the Press has been doing their best to keep British feelings out of the headlines, to hide what is being said behind the backs of the American people by their cousins “across the pond.”

As I mentioned previously, Downing Street was less than impressed when Gordon Brown’s copy of Psycho, one of the DVDs Barack Obama gave him, didn’t work because of regional differences. They were originally “confident” that any gift from the US President would be “well thought through”, but I guess the British are really starting to look at Americans like the “ignorant children” they use to believed they were. Can you blame them? If the White House can’t even get the DVDs working for them, how are they to fix the financial trouble the world is now facing? Well Obama went a step further when he had to choose a gift for Queen Elizabeth II… The ever “hip” iPod. I was absolutely dumbstruck… I mean, what? This is the best he can do?

The gift itself reeks of Obama’s personal obsession with his own “hipness”, something we learned when it was “leaked” that he had gotten his daughters a Wii for Christmas (which he also plays with, practicing his bowling skills on Wii Sports… Oh, how “hip”). He might as well have gotten her one of those, seeing as the Queen already has an iPod, a silver 6GB iPod mini which she bought in 2005 (the paparazzi knew that, why didn’t the Obama Administration?). That isn’t all though, this gift gets worse. Aside from the fact that it is loaded with music from Broadway productions (which isn’t that bad), it also has pictures and video of her most recent American visit (as if she didn’t already have them), as well as recordings of Obama’s “famous” speeches. I do agree with Michelle Malkin on this one, it does sound like an April Fool’s Day joke, but the problem is, it isn’t. This gift says that Barack isn’t simply obsessed with being “hip”, he is also a megalomaniac (megalomania being a psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence… Fits doesn’t it?).

As if this visit couldn’t get worse, we hear this morning that Michelle Obama touched the Queen, breaking royal protocol for what I could describe as a poorly thought out “Kodak moment”. Much like Barack’s joke about the Special Olympics on the Tonight Show, this wouldn’t have been an issue if Michelle wasn’t the First Lady, but she is. She is supposed to be proper, she is supposed know how to greet people like Queen Elizabeth, but this wasn’t just a show of her ignorance to protocol, it was a display of how impolite this woman can be. It isn’t just that, as Mark Finkelstein of NewsBusters.org made mention of during the presidential campaign Michelle is an angry woman. When she is in the public’s eye, she is supposed to be composed, she is supposed to behave according to her position as First Lady, but like her husband, it seems Mrs. Obama doesn’t believe the rules apply to her. Why should these two follow any set of rules though, especially when it seems the Press won’t call them on their mistakes? Last night I turned on CNN to see if they had bothered to critically analyze the Obamas conduct during the royal visit, but instead found these so-called reporters fawning over how great they thought Michelle was. She isn’t Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, not by a long shot, she doesn’t even measure up to Laura Bush, a woman who commanded respect even when he husband didn’t, so why the fuss over a classless, unfeminine and angry First Lady? It is disgusting to see how these reporters continue to fawn over her even now.

With this media love affair now in full-bloom, any sense of reporter objectivity is long gone. How can it be that this was ignored by the American Press? The Telegraph had a report about the British opinion on what they saw as Obama’s rudeness towards Gordon Brown. Iain Martin said that Obama “looked like he simply couldn’t be bothered” with the British Prime Minister, denying him even the most basic courtesies like a full press conference with flags (as per protocol with visiting leaders) or even lunch (stay classy Barack). Partisan hacks like Betty Baye of the Courier-Journal would rather attack those like Michelle Malkin, who she called an “acidic Asian-American” (racist much?), than write a column worth reading. The “question everything/question authority” drive these reporters and columnists once had (and “proudly” displayed the last eight years) has been replaced by this perverse sense of “duty” to the new administration. They have a duty to their audience, not to some “political master”. Its called journalist integrity if I remember correctly (been so long since I have seen it from these hacks), something these people are seriously lacking.

As a “colonial subject” of Queen Elizabeth II, I find it offensive to see British royalty being treated with such disregard. She’s my Queen, Canada’s Queen, the Queen of the former British Empire, she deserves more than an iPod and a hug from an angry woman. There is a proper way to address the Queen, and I am sure he and his wife were briefed on it before meeting with her, but it seems President Obama would rather maintain protocol with those who don’t like us, rather than those who have assisted the United States in its War on Terror. I can only imagine how the British are feeling, watching these two classless heads of state manhandle their leaders. We can wait and see what the Telegraph and other British publications will be saying when this is all over, but I bet they won’t have any kind words to say about Barack and Michelle Obama once the two of them are back on American soil. As with the previous meeting, the “Great Uniter” has managed to sour relations with one of our closest allies.

If you don’t like them, be honest Barack. It is far less offensive than these awkward meetings… You’ve become the neighbour nobody wants at their party, so simply tell them you just don’t want to attend next time they ask you too…

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air is looking over Obama’s bow when meeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The question is why would Barack maintain protocol with a leader who’s country isn’t very friendly to the United States when he wouldn’t with one of America’s allies? I know he is trying to reach out to the Middle East, but it doesn’t work.

Why not simply surrender Iraq and Afghanistan? I am wondering when this appeasement will end… Pathetic…

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