After Obama’s embarrassingly bad gift to Gordon Brown, we all assumed that the Obamas would be putting a bit more thought into their presents from now on. Indeed, when Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press man, was asked what the Queen would be getting in the pre-trip press briefing, he replied: “We don’t want to give away all our good news on the briefing call.”
So, what did the Obamas give the Queen? An iPod with footage of her 2007 visit to the US loaded on to it. This is hardly a gift that suggests a huge amount of thought especially as it is public knowledge that the Queen already has one.
Now, in the grand scheme of things this isn’t that important. But these little things matter in diplomacy and it is as bizarre as it is pathetic that this White House seems so incapable of getting it right.
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