The Obamas might be the worst gift givers ever.
When Great Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown came over here to meet the new President, he gave Obama a pen holder fashioned from the oak timber of HMS Gannet which is a Navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Africa, a framed commissioning paper for the HMS Resolute which is a Royal Navy ship that came to symbolize British-American goodwill when it was rescued by the U.S. from icebergs and given to Queen Victoria, and a first edition seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill.
What did Obama give to Gordon Brown? DVD’s. DV-freaking-D’s.
DVD’s are something you keep wrapped in your house in case that odd kinda’ sorta’ friend shows up unexpectedly around Christmas. And if he doesn’t you rip it open sometime in May.
I mean, the leader of our greatest ally comes over who has never shown any public interest whatsoever in movies and the Obamas give him ET, Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz.
Are we sure this wasn’t a re-gift from the Ambassador of Zimbabwe or Sweden? The Obamas might as well have given the dude a sweater.
But it gets better.
Today, Hillary shows up to Russia bearing gifts, presenting her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with a green-wrapped box decorated with a bow and containing a mock “reset” button to illustrate that the Obama administration wants to “reset” the relationship between the two countries.
You know, reset it because America’s been so mean to them by invading the free country of Georgia and supplying Muslim fanatics with nuclear technology. Oh wait, that was them.
But anyway, the word on the button didn’t say “Reset” in Russian it said “Overcharge.”
Forget “Reset” button, the Obamas need an “Easy button.”
I’d hate to be Obama’s kids come Christimas. They’ve got to get the worst presents ever.
March 6, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Class will tell.
March 6, 2009 at 10:23 pm
What an embarrassment! I can’t believe these are the people our country put into power!
March 6, 2009 at 10:47 pm
On one level, this is hilarious. Hilarious in a dark, we are soooooo screwed kind of sense but what can you do? This administration is both amusing and chilling in the depth of its incompetence.
March 6, 2009 at 11:05 pm
well this must be the oh so wonderfully touted foeign relations improvements we have been hearing about. while we are at it let’s invite the Israeli and Palestinian delegations over to the White House. we can discuss our differences over a honey baked ham!
March 6, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I must admit, I find a twisted humor in this…but when all he’s done is community organizing, you can’t help but think the president thinks it’s just like community organizing, where you would get someone a dvd.
March 7, 2009 at 12:18 am
I hope one of the movies wasn’t The Patriot .
March 7, 2009 at 1:35 am
Coulda been worse, coulda been fruitcake.
March 7, 2009 at 1:38 am
Little sympathy here. Most British public opinion – Brown included – was itching to see us replace that “cowboy” Bush with someone more pleasing to refined European tastes. Well, they got their wish. If in the end they have no greater cause for regretting that wish than getting cheesy thoughtless gifts, they’ll be darned lucky – and a lot luckier than I really expect any of us to be.
March 7, 2009 at 4:19 am
Barack “I screwed up” Obama doesn’t really seem to have any sense of decorum, class, or the weight of the office he now holds. Crappy gifts like this are tragically unsurprising.
Whatever State Dept. numskull thought a button would be a good gift for a Russian official clearly knows nothing about Russia, and I’m amazed his superiors were likewise that stupid.
March 7, 2009 at 5:44 am
I could be wrong, but I think “reset” is Russian for “We surrender”.
March 7, 2009 at 7:40 am
He does realise American DVDs don’t work over here, right?
— an American living in England
March 7, 2009 at 8:26 am
I can assure you Gordon Brown wouldn’t have been expecting much from a Head Boy of undubitably Irish descent, Barry O’Bama. The rumour is he asked Barry what he wants to do when he finishes ‘college’.
March 7, 2009 at 11:56 am
I think they were “Stomp the Hood” or “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka!”..both classics.
March 7, 2009 at 11:57 am
Now that I think of it, our national movie ought to be “Shaft”, ’cause that’s what we got!
March 7, 2009 at 12:22 pm
You know, I’m really resenting OBama’s incompetance right now….
Not only is he running the country into the ground BUT whenever I report his latest nomination-problem or gift-gaffe to my husband, he thinks I’m MAKING IT UP! I’m having to put a Dave Barry disclaimer on all my news tidbits these days….
Just keep repeating to yourself–noone is that dumb, so he must be doing it on purpose!
OK… just had a horrible thoguth,…. maybe the govt. is so broke, they’ve instituted a 10$ limit on all gift purchases? That would explain it….
March 8, 2009 at 6:03 am
The Associated Press would like Americans to believe that our representatives have no clue what they are doing. Judging from comments on the various message forums Americans are gullibly buying the simplistic explanation that our State department supposedly doesn’t know how to translate the word “reset” into Russian. Nonsense! The Russian word peregruzka appears at the top of the button, spelled in latin letters. If this was meant to be a literal translation, why would the letters be in Latin? The english translation for this word is “overload” and anyone that knows how to type a few letters into an online translation website can easily figrue that much out. An english word appears below the button and that word is “reset”. These words do very much make sense together: when something is overloaded (like a circuit), you reset it.
Continued here:
rebellionbrewery.com/?p=312
March 8, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Still, RebellionBrewery, that gift totally stinks! If I were any kind of foreign diplomat and got a gift like that, it would likely be a part of the givers forehead. I’m just sayin’.
March 9, 2009 at 4:29 am
I remember reading somewhere that in previous years (before ’08), the Obama kids did not receive Christmas gifts from their dad at all. I was going to say more, but I gave up Obama criticizing for Lent. (It’s harder than I thought). Kit
March 9, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Kit – goodness, now that IS a mortification!
March 9, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I’m delighted. The Brits treated Prez Bush like garbage so now they get a classless jerk. Chew on that England and like it.