At the traditional gift exchange, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave President Obama an ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President. Another treasure given to the US 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, Mr Brown gave a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.
Obama gave Brown 25 DVDs.
Seriously.
Now the question is if the President even realizes American DVDs don't work in British DVD players.
I heard about the DVDs when it happened, but I never realized that the gifts given by the Prime Minster were so valuable. Twenty-five Region 1 DVDs may as well have been a bucket of raw sewage by comparison.
ReplyDeleteIf this is any indication of how Obama and his administration deal with foreign dignitaries, we're in a for a bumpy four years.