This is pretty funny mainly because it fits so perfectly into everything we know about Obama already. To Obama, everything is about Obama. (Remember he gave his own speeches to the Queen as a gift last time they met.)
Here, Obama attempts to toast the Queen but something else is going on, the band is playing “God Save the Queen” and everyone is at complete attention for that. But poor Obama thought he just had a soundtrack for his little speech and rambles on while all ignore him completely and then at the very end he realizes nobody’s paying attention to him.
May 25, 2011 at 3:55 am
It sounds so embarrassing that I can't even watch- at least not yet.
May 25, 2011 at 3:57 am
That painful frowning look is a good natural expression for him. I hope to see a lot of that in 2012…
May 25, 2011 at 4:20 am
Turns out it wasn't his only mistake in Britain. Here's further proof that he lives in his own little world:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390535/Obama-gets-date-wrong-years-signs-Westminster-Abbey-guestbook.html
May 25, 2011 at 4:28 am
I almost feel sorry for him. I hope the Queen was not offended by this little blunder. I kind of get the feeling that the Royal family is not too fond of President Obama.
May 25, 2011 at 4:32 am
He said he was giving a toast, why would they start the music? Or why don't his handlers give him better info about the course of events. As much as I dislike the guy, I felt kind of bad for him.
May 25, 2011 at 4:49 am
It was the bands fault:) What would have been really awkward is if he did the air guitar when the band started.
May 25, 2011 at 12:01 pm
The band started playing the National Anthem at the words "to Her Majesty the Queen". "The Queen" is the loyal toast in the UK, so to whoever was leading the band, that sounded like the end of the toast.
It's an honest mistake to make, but it's pretty awful that he carried on.
May 25, 2011 at 2:00 pm
I note that ABC blamed the band. They probably thought that the music was all about the Me, Me, Me guy.
May 25, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Maybe the musicians intentionally put him in an awkward position so as to embarrass him. They prolly know he blames whites for all of the misfortunes of the blacks; they know one of his first acts was to send back to England a bust of Churchill; they prolly even know that when he toured the Capitals of Europe as the smartest college student in the history of the world that he could not find one, not one, thing that he could identify with.
So, having our sovereign alien be put to the sword of Western Tradition was a sly way to pay him back for his anti-western weltanschauung.
May 25, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Dear Matthew:
your line indicates that this is saved under the following Labels: Humor, Obama, Queen Elizabeth.
Please remove the Humor label.
This is not humorous, it is disgraceful.
We have a rank amatuer for president. He is a continual embarassment for us and for others.
Mortification might be a better Label.
May 25, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Obama may now be described, without malice, as a buffoon. His disgraceful Palace Show was a toastmaker's travesty. Let us count the ways:
1)He is clearly unprepared.
a)He is unaware of the evening's protocol – the Anthem always comes first.
b)He has his toast written for him on a card that he holds conspicuously.
c)His reading of the toast is clearly unpracticed.
2)He has not prepared Her Majesty. He failed to indicate to her that he would toast her. This is made clear when she rises at his inital spoken invitation only to learn that she is the one to be toasted. One does not rise in one's own honor. Left standing in her own honor, she cannot be seen to sit back down again else she directs embarassment back to her guest, and she is too refined to do such a thing. Nice work, Pres.
3) He does not know when to stop. Hanging the Queen out to dry is quickly smoothed over by the Band of the Coldstream Gaurd – for she must rise for the Anthem and so she is belatedly provided the only acceptable reason for standing. But his lust for histrionics is such that the anthem is just so much dramatic background music for his toasting prowess now building to a Shakespearean crescendo!
4) He fails to recognize the anthem for what it is and for what it means to his hostess and her guests!
5) He fails to apologize afterward! "I beg your pardon, your Majesty" would have been enough to acknowledge the blunder and set her and the room at ease. He might have even apologized and re-offered the toast. Rather, we get "to the Queen" muttered under his breath and as her turns away from her at the end – and he still looks for her to drink to herself!
6) Now for the form of the toast itself:
a) one does not begin a toast asking people to stand.
b) one does not begin a toast with the toast. One begins by standing alone and offering a brief statement of laudatory sentiment, spoken without glass in hand. One quickly comes to conclusion of the statement and then declares the coming toast. One may then ask people to rise – but just the men. (Observe the surprise in the footman's behavior as he rushes to withdraw Camilla's chair. Even the footman knows better.) One then offers the toast which is usually brief in the extreme and confined to precisely one subject: "Her Majesty" for example.
c) Obama breaks ALL the forms:
-"Ladys and Gentlemen" sets aside all British Protocol: what of the Princes, Princesses, Dukes, Duchesses, etc. present?;
-"Please stand" at the outset, including the ladies, and including Her Majesty;
-Announces the Toast at the outset;
-Calls for "Raise your glasses" at the outset;
-Then proceeds to toast THREE SEPARATE THINGS!!! Her Majesty, the special US/UK Relationship, and the land that is England.
-Trots William Shakespeare out in a trite attempt to extol the virtues of England (what of Whales?)It's a bit like having Lincoln quoted to us by Putin.
There is not a redeemable moment in the whole affair. Obama's performance is apalling; It is crude. He is the Ugly American.
May 26, 2011 at 12:55 am
The fault to lies with the people who should have instructed the President on the protocol for this occasion. The queen would not have been offended; she would realise that the President hadn't been instructed correctly.
May 26, 2011 at 5:54 am
They TOTALLY set him up!!!
Give crappy gifts to the queen.. and you will get your comeuppance
bwahahahah… they totally dissed him!
(and he knew it!)