Where's the Protocol Office??

wrigley · #1 03-09-2009, 03:33 PM

I'd rather have President Obama give cheap gifts than spend a large amount of money for them in a time when there's the debt outstanding to think about.

Coramoor · #2 03-09-2009, 04:26 PM

I would rather blow things out of proportion and think the man is wrong no matter what he does. haha

AKA_Monet · #3 03-09-2009, 07:01 PM

Hayle, they could have just given PM Brown and his family some Obama campaign T-shirts/posters/memorabilia, which actually fetches quite a bit of money these days... LOL... At least Obama has a stash of that crap laying around there somewhere. Or at least the stuh is bootlegged somewhere... Good ole American Capitalism at its best! J/K... or not...

UGAalum94 · #4 03-09-2009, 07:18 PM

I don't know that this is going to really end up meaning anything about our relationship with Great Britain, but there were other issues about the visit that weren't done at the typical level. Apparently, there's an expectation of a certain level of joint press conference that didn't happen either. If you look at the visit in it's totality, Obama didn't make as big a deal about Brown's visit as is typical.

I suspect that you don't get to be PM by being really thin skinned, but if you look at the discrepancy in the gift exchange and level of pomp, if I were a member of the British public, I might think Obama didn't act right.

How much does that matter? I don't know, but I know there were people at the time of the election for whom what the rest of the world thought about us mattered. Sure, they were concerned about more meaningful foreign policy issues than gift exchanges, but can you really afford to blow off symbolic interpersonal stuff? It ought to be a gimme.

KSigkid · #5 03-09-2009, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Hayle, they could have just given PM Brown and his family some Obama campaign T-shirts/posters/memorabilia, which actually fetches quite a bit of money these days... LOL... At least Obama has a stash of that crap laying around there somewhere. Or at least the stuh is bootlegged somewhere... Good ole American Capitalism at its best! J/K... or not...

I read somewhere that it was requested from AFI, which, in that case, at least the AFI Top 25 are populated by great movies. Of course, including "The Big Lebowski" would also be a good idea, but far be it from me to give advice to the President.

moe.ron · #6 03-09-2009, 09:38 PM

I think the Big Lebowski should be a required gift to all visiting head of states, along with Dude, Where's My Car and Kingpin.

KSigkid · #7 03-09-2009, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moe.ron

I think the Big Lebowski should be a required gift to all visiting head of states, along with Dude, Where's My Car and Kingpin.

Well, you got 2 out of 3 right.

moe.ron · #8 03-09-2009, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Well, you got 2 out of 3 right.

I'm thinking you disagree with Dude, Where's My Car?

It's a classic man. Ok, what if I changed that movie with Half Baked?

deepimpact2 · #9 03-09-2009, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrigley

I'd rather have President Obama give cheap gifts than spend a large amount of money for them in a time when there's the debt outstanding to think about.

Exactly. If he had given an extravagant gift, then people would have been shouting, screaming, hissing, and foaming at the mouth about THAT.