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And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:17 pm
by jmorris
If you don't know, the British Prime Minister was in DC last week. Things were not what the Brits have been used to. Not so much pomp and circumstance, small press conference. And then there were the gifts.
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President Barack Obama gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of 25 DVDs of American movies, while Brown, according to the Daily Mail, gave the president several gifts, "including an ornamental desk pen-holder made from the oak timbers of the Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President."
Sarah Brown gifted the Obama girls with dresses and necklaces from the trendy Top Shop store, plus books penned by British authors. In return, her boys received models of the Marine One helicopter the president flies in. Similar models sell on Amazon.com for $15, the Evening Standard reported.
"While Sarah Brown had spent time choosing gifts for the Obama girls, Michelle had clearly sent an aide to the White House gift shop at the last moment," speculated the Telegraph.
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As one writer said "We do have DVDs and TVs over here now".
Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:06 pm
by killerfly128
Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:10 pm
by Oldgringo
jmorris wrote:If you don't know, the British Prime Minister was in DC last week. Things were not what the Brits have been used to. Not so much pomp and circumstance, small press conference. And then there were the gifts.
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President Barack Obama gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of 25 DVDs of American movies, while Brown, according to the Daily Mail, gave the president several gifts, "including an ornamental desk pen-holder made from the oak timbers of the Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President."
Sarah Brown gifted the Obama girls with dresses and necklaces from the trendy Top Shop store, plus books penned by British authors. In return, her boys received models of the Marine One helicopter the president flies in. Similar models sell on Amazon.com for $15, the Evening Standard reported.
"While Sarah Brown had spent time choosing gifts for the Obama girls, Michelle had clearly sent an aide to the White House gift shop at the last moment," speculated the Telegraph.
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As one writer said "We do have DVDs and TVs over here now".
The U.S. gave so little in return for Ted Kennedy's knighthood. What a pity.
Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:29 am
by ClarkLZeuss
jmorris wrote:
As one writer said "We do have DVDs and TVs over here now".
And to make matters worse, British DVDs are Region 2 and ours are Region 1. So all the American DVDs that Obama gave Brown won't play over there!
Good job, there, rookie!

Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 3:31 am
by TexasComputerDude
bwaaaahhahahahaha
I can't believe it....
Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:04 am
by AEA
If He/She does not know the difference between DVD regions, how can they know how to approach problems in other Cultures/Regions?
I fear we are going to have a "Region One" Foreign Policy and no one else will be able to "play".
GOOD? Maybe............
BAD? Maybe...........
Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:42 am
by KD5NRH
Geez...we're barely out of the "poor white trash" tax bracket and we still manage to keep an "oops box" of better gifts than those around for forgotten birthdays and such. (Hint; it's a great way to take advantage of after-Christmas sales and woot.com deals when you know something would make a great gift but just can't think of who to give it to at the moment.)
For that matter, I've put more thought into Mother's Day gifts this year and I'm already thinking of ways to make special gifts for Libby from certain special items. (Hopefully, by the time she takes her first deer, I'll have a jeweler's lathe and some practice making pens from shell casings and bone. If she ever competes at Camp Perry, I'll have to think of something really big

)
Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:54 am
by bpet
It's not limited to the Obama's. It appears that with Mrs. Clinton's parting gift to the Russian's, we have established a not-so-significant baseline for tacky gifts. You would think a Sec-of-State would validate a translation for "reset" before using the prop in a much publicized photo-op.
We were promised a new approach to foreign policy and it looks like we are seeing real results.
My congratulations to the new administration for a fantastic start.
Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:59 am
by WEC
AEA wrote:I fear we are going to have a "Region One" Foreign Policy and no one else will be able to "play".

Re: And now for some fine parting gifts
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:21 pm
by roberts
jmorris wrote:As one writer said "We do have DVDs and TVs over here now".
Even Palin knows that!