It is the thoughtlessnes that counts

What separates great from good is an attention to detail. The extra effort you put in to doing even the most mundane task shows character, desire and caring.

It was rumored that the magician Blackstone, Sr. would have cakes baked with coins in them and distributed around the theaters where he was performing so he could, while walking around, do an "impromptu" coin trick where a borrowed coin would vanish and reappear inside of a "cake that just happened to be there" at a local vendor. Everyone was amazed and the resultant word of mouth advertising virtually guaranteed a packed performance the next evening.

A few weeks ago I posted on how the Obama administration ticked off the Brits by returning a bust of Churchill that was loaned to GW Bush. I guess The ONE is a little behind on his reading of this blog as he didn't learn anything from that incisive and poignant review of his actions.

Just this week, the Prime Minister of the England, Gordon Brown and his wife, arrived in Washington for a meeting with the first African American President of the United States and his fashionable First African American First Lady wife.

I don't know if I've witnessed a Brit treated with such carelessness since Elizabeth Hurley was tossed aside for a two bit hooker by Hugh Grant. Then again, that was Brit on Brit disrespect. First, a press conference was cancelled due to snow. I guess Obama's protestations of a wimpy DC crowd regarding a little snow a few weeks ago was, like most of his statements, more "show than go".

Mr. Brown bestowed upon our fear inspiring leader gifts such as an ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President. The forethought of this gift became apparent when the holder was placed on the Oval Office's Resolute desk which just happened to have been carved from the salvaged timbers of Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute. Carrying the "theme" forward, the President was also bestowed the framed commission for HMS Resolute, a vessel that came to symbolise Anglo-US peace when it was saved from ice packs by Americans and given to Queen Victoria. Finally, Mr Brown gave Obama a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

In return, Barack tossed to Gordon a collection of 25 DVD movies he got from Roland Burris as a White Elephant gift at Governor Blago's house last year. I don't even think he wrapped them.

Mrs Brown didn't fair much better with America's top model of a First Lady. Sarah Brown gave Sasha and Malia Obama an outfit each from Topshop, which has just opened its first American store in New York. She also picked six children's books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America. What did Michelle offer in return? She handed over a toy replica of Marine One. British columnist Sarah Vine sums it up so well writing in the Times:

'These were gifts chosen in the true spirit of present-giving: to please the recipient, not the giver.'

Giving the Browns' two young boys a helicopter was 'fair enough'.

But she added:

'Marine One? It’s not as though anyone needs reminding that Barack Obama is President or that he has his own helicopter.

'Short of giving the boys Action Man models of her own husband smiting the evil forces of neoconservatism, Mrs Obama’s gesture could not have been more solipsistic or more inherently dismissive of Mrs Brown.

'Not only did she demonstrate that she spent approximately three seconds contemplating the needs of the Brown boys (having an aide pop to the White House gift shop for a piece of merchandising does not imply a great deal of thought), she appeared to show a most uncharacteristic lapse of judgement.'

Lapse of judgement seems to be a part of the Obama standard operating procedure. Britain, once we kicked her ass off this continent, has long been our closest ally. The simpatico between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher was benefit for not just our two countries but for the world as a whole as these resolute leaders won the Cold War and free millions from Communism and the fear of the actions of Communists.

I only hope that, while Gordon Brown fattens up on popcorn watching his DVDs, Barack Obama pages through a few of those volumes of Churchill's life. There is little chance of that, I know.

S2