They are making a particular fuss about the gifts that were exchanged between the two leaders:
After Brown presented Obama with a pen holder crafted from the timbers of the 19th century British warship HMS President (whose sister ship, HMS Resolute, provided the wood for the Oval Office's desk), Obama offered up ... 25 DVDs of American movie classics.
Twenty-five DVDs specially selected by the American Film Institute, no doubt in the latest high-definition Blue Ray format with all the extra features and commentaries one would expect from such a collection.... That sounds like a terrific gift to me!
Here are the selected films:
Citizen Kane
The Godfather
Casablanca
Raging Bull
Singin' In the Rain
Gone With the Wind
Lawrence of Arabia
Schindler's List
Vertigo
Wizard of Oz
City Lights
The Searchers
Star Wars
Psycho
2001: A Space Odyssey
Sunset Boulevard
The Graduate
The General
On the Waterfront
It's A Wonderful Life
Chinatown
Some Like It Hot
The Grapes of Wrath
ET: The Extra Terrestrial
To Kill a Mockingbird
Wow! I would love to have a collection like that. And the Brits are turning their noses up to it?
Sure, the pen holder is a nice gift because of the historic nature of the wood it was carved out of, but there is no question which gift I would choose if I had a choice.
Obama has already expressed his delight and appreciation for the pen holder. And all the Brits have done is whine about the specially prepared movie collection. So who is insulting who here?
Also, the British press has also made a fuss because Obama replaced a bust of Winston Churchill in the Oval Office with one of President Lincoln. Mind telling me which American president has their bust on prominent display at 10 Downing Street?
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