Today I sent a postcard to the British Embassy in Washington, DC to express my disgust at the behavior of President & Mrs. Obama during their Prime Minister’s recent visit to the White House. I meant to send this postcard earlier, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed thanks to the lack of posts lately, I haven’t been feeling so well and have been quite busy with doctors and such. But I figure, better late than never, right?
So in response to the Obama’s abominable behavior, I wanted to send my own apologies to the British people. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the Obamas were less than hospitable to our guests, the Prime Minister and his wife. If you still haven’t heard (which wouldn’t be surprising, since the MSM hasn’t even bothered to mention it), click “More” to learn about what transpired and to read the letter I sent today to the British Embassy.

Traditionally, when the Prime Minister comes for a visit, there’s a joint press conference upon his or her arrival. For the first time in the history of our nation, President Obama canceled this press conference. And at the last minute, rather than holding their first meeting in public, it was instead held in the privacy of the Oval Office, with the media being completely shut out.

Also according to tradition, whenever the President and the Prime Minister appear in public during these visits, there are always both American and British flags present. Again, for the first time in history, President Obama specifically ordered that no British flags were to be seen.

It’s a long standing tradition that when two diplomats meet, they come bearing gifts representatives of their own nations as well as the ties that bond our two nations together. This is especially true with regard to the United States and Britain, being that we have been close, stalwart allies for more than a century. To give you some idea of just how important these gifts are, there are entire departments within the State Department that do nothing but catalogue every single gift that has ever been given between nations since the very beginning of our country’s history. Not only that, but these same departments dedicate their entire time to putting together gifts that are both priceless and historically significant.
The Prime Minister went to great lengths to honor this tradition, bringing us gifts that were remarkable in their thoughtfulness. The first gift was a pen holder, crafted from the timbers of the HMS Ganet. This was particularly significant for our nation’s first African American President, as the purpose of the Ganet’s mission was to perform anti-slaving operations, patrolling the oceans for ships transporting slaves from Africa.
But not only was this ship significant racially, it’s also significant historically, for it was the twin ship of the HMS Resolute. Most people recognize the importance of the HMS Resolute as revolving around the desk that sits in the Oval Office, known as the Resolute Desk. That desk has a twin, which sits in Buckingham Palace. The desk was presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria and has sat in the Oval Office ever since. But in my opinion, the desk isn’t the most important aspect of the HMS Resolute, because the desk itself was symbolic of something even greater.
That desk symbolizes the very beginning of our alliance with Great Britain. If you remember our nation’s history, at one point, England was our enemy. During the American Revolution, it was Great Britain we were fighting to break free from. So how did our enemy turn into our greatest ally? It’s all thanks to the HMS Resolute.
The HMS Resolute – the third ship to bear that name, actually – was the pride of the Royal Navy. In 1852, the HMS Resolute was part of a four-ship expedition that sailed through the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage to Asia. In August of 1853, storms moved the ice flows and entrapped the Resolute, locking it in thick arctic ice. The crew tried to free it for months, but ultimately couldn’t budge nature. By May of 1954, Captain Keller stowed the sails, caulked down the hatches, and led his men onto the HMS Ganet to sail home to England. Captain Keller was court-martialed for abandoning his ship and the United Kingdom was facing a daunting, dangerous, and expensive task to retrieve the Resolute before it was retrieved by someone else.

On September 10, 1855, the empty ship was found stuck in the ice of Davis strait off Cape Walsingham of Baffin Island, some 1,200 miles from where she had been abandoned. It was discovered by an American whaler, the George Henry, captained by James Buddington of Connecticut. The Americans freed the Resolute from the ice, re-rigged the spars and sails, and arrived at New London, Connecticut on Christmas Eve, 1855.
Upon learning of the ship’s arrival in Connecticut, the British government waived all rights to the ship, thinking the pride of their Navy had been lost with no hope of return.
But the government of the United States purchased the boat from James Buddington for $40,000, refitted her, and sailed her to England as a gesture of “national courtesy”. It was that gesture that turned our relations around, changing England from an enemy to a friend.

It was in honor of that gesture that Queen Victoria commissioned the creation of the Resolute Desks from the timbers of that ship upon its retirement.
And it was in honor of the origins of that friendship that Prime Minister Gordon Brown brought President Obama a pen holder carved from the timbers of its sister ship, the anti-slaving ship HMS Ganet. See the significance now?

Prime Minister Brown didn’t stop there, though. He also brought a framed replica of the HMS Resolute’s commissioning papers. Also very significant, wouldn’t you say?

And last, but certainly not least, he brought President Obama a first edition of a 7-volume biography of Winston Churchill, considered to be the absolute best biography ever written of the great man. To have a first edition, that’s priceless, so much so it should be in a museum.

Frankly, all of these items should be in a museum! And what does President Obama give in return?

A 25 DVD set of American classic films. That’s it.

It’s like they completely forgot to get a gift, so they just had an intern run down to Wal-Mart and pick up a gift that they’d bring to any old dinner party!
But as if that’s not bad enough, the Prime Minister couldn’t even watch the films if he wanted to, for two reasons. First off, the discs are encoded Region 1, which means they aren’t playabled in Britain.
And second, Gordon Brown is legally blind.
How very thoughtful of President Obama!

It gets worse. The tradition of gift giving also extends to the wives. Traditionally the First Lady and the Prime Minister’s wife will meet for some sort of occasion and will bring gifts of a more personal nature. Mrs. Brown bought custom-made dresses for each of the Obama girls from TopShop, an incredibly trendy and expensive boutique in Britain. The dresses also came with matching necklaces, which were also custom-made for each girl. To top all that off, Mrs. Brown also brought a selection of children’s books from popular British authors which hadn’t even been published yet.

And what does Mrs. Obama give in return? Two little plastic toy replicas of Marine One for the Brown’s two boys.
From the White House gift shop.
They didn’t even remove the price tags.
That’s right, the two little toy helicopters are sold at the White House gift shop. They can also be purchased at airports in the DC area. Yet again, just like her husband, it appears as if they just flat out forgot to bring gifts and sent an idiot intern down to the gift shop to pick something up real quick. They forgot to take off the price tags, they forgot to even wrap them. Talk about tacky!

To add further insult to injury, all of this has occurred just a few weeks after President Obama had the unending nerve to return an incredibly generous gift that was given by the Prime Minister to the American people on September 11th. On that horrible day, Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a historic bust of Winston Churchill to President Bush – and specifically to the American people as well, not just a gift to the President – as a gesture of solidarity, friendship, and unwavering support during a dark day in our nation’s history. That bust sat in the Oval Office throughout Bush’s time in the White House. It was such a priceless bust that I’m sure the Smithsonian would have loved to have it.
And what did Obama do? He returned it. He boxed it up and shipped it back. The British government and Prime Minister Brown told him flat out, we don’t want it back, it was a gift not just to President Bush, but to the American people! We don’t want it back, please, it was a gift, keep it.
Obama said no, he didn’t want it anymore.
The British government then said, ‘Fine, put it in a museum! That’s fine by us, we want you to have it.’
Again, Obama said no and insisted that they take it.
The British people were horrendously insulted already, and then when Prime Minister Brown comes for a very important diplomatic visit, they’re further snubbed by the double gift gaffes of the century. Imagine how the United Kingdom feels right now.

And last, but certainly not least, to make all of this even worse, our beloved media hasn’t even bothered to report any of this. They haven’t even really bothered to make much of a mention of the Prime Minister’s visit at all, let alone the huge slap to their face that was the exchange of gifts.
So we can thank President Obama for summarily snubbing our most trusted ally in a very, very dangerous time. The UK’s angry, and rightfully so. And we haven’t even really heard about it.

A lot of my friends have been sending postcards to the British Embassy in Washington in an effort to let the British government and the British people know that even if our representatives are treating them like dirt, at least the American people still respect, admire, and appreciate the United Kingdom and their support. I decided to do the same, so without further delay, here is my open letter to the British Ambassador and the people of the United Kingdom:

Dear Sir Nigel Elton Sheinwald KCMG and the people of the United Kingdom,

As an American citizen, I am appalled by the way President & Mrs. Obama treated Prime Minister Brown and his wife. Not only that, but the fact that Mr. Obama returned the bust of Winston Churchill, which your country so graciously gave us on September 11th. There aren’t enough words to express my shock & dismay at the behavior of the Obamas. They showed such a disgusting, tactless disregard for you, our most beloved friend. I wanted to let you know that as for me, my family & friends, we are so grateful for your kind, thoughtful gifts, and most importantly, we hope you know that we certainly don’t feel that the President has accurately represented the true feelings of friendship, gratitude and love that all Americans feel for the United Kingdom. We hold you in such high esteem, we’re so grateful for your unwavering support, and we have such immense respect for you that we are just as insulted when Mr. Obama insults you. Please accept our most sincere apologies for Mr. Obama’s abominable behavior.

Yours Sincerely,
Meg

I’d encourage you to please send a postcard as well and let them know how you feel. It is so vital that we maintain good will between our two countries, for without the United Kingdom, we would surely be in deep, deep trouble. Please, take the time to send them a note and tell them how you feel. Let’s at least try to repair the damage that the NObamas have done to one of the most important relationships this country has.
You can mail your letter to:

The British Embassy
3100 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008