GIFT GAFFES

I'm sure many of us expected some "rookie mistakes" from the Obama administration and we haven't been disappointed. I do think we could have expected better from Hillary Clinton. The Obama's have very little experience thinking about others. They talk a good game about helping others but have pretty much looked after their own interests primarily. Mrs Clinton however was the First Lady for eight years and should know a thing or two about appropriate gifts for foreign dignitaries.

When America's best ally, Great Britain sent Prime Minister Brown for a state visit the Obama's lack of experience was blatantly obvious. President Obama chose to unilaterally omit the traditional joint press conference, without advising the British PM. Bit of a nasty surprise that! Unaware of the diss to come the Browns chose their gifts for the Obama family carefully. The Obama girls received outfits from a trendy British children's shop and an assortment of British children's books. A thoughtful and personal gift. The gift to President Obama was a pen case made from wood taken from the sister ship of the MS Resolute. A gift with historical significance. In return the Brown children received gifts that probably came from the White House gift shop and PM Brown received DVD of 50 American movies which unfortunately were in a format that will not work in Great Britain. Not an especially thoughtful gift for a man who is blind in one eye and has probably seen all the classic films anyway.

The Clinton gaffe was even more troubling. In an attempt to stick to their story that America lost international status during the Bush administration the Clinton State Department came up with a cheap little trick which backfired. In a televised meeting with Russian diplomat Mrs. Clinton presented a prop. The so called "reset button" was supposed to demonstrate a "do-over" in the relationship between America and Russia. The idea itself was too cute by half and the execution was flawed. Considering our history with Russia handing them a red button is problematic on it's own. Add to that the fact that button was labeled "Overcharge" instead of "Reset" (shouldn't we have people in the state department who know Russian?) and we have an embarrassing mistake which would have been front page news during the Bush administration.