03/05/2009 2:00 pm

POV

Journo Blames Michelle Obama for President's PM Brown 'Snub'

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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew in this week to meet with President Barack Obama. And, as has become custom, the men were meant to hold a press conference at the White House Rose Garden on Monday.

Unfortunately, that’s the same day a surprise snowstorm descended upon the East Coast, which forced Mr. Obama to cancel the appearance, a move many described as a "snub." That "snub," some say, shows that the president isn’t interested in fostering a friendship with Brown, or his country.

Whether that’s true remains open to debate, but British journalist James Delingpole knows where he stands: the president did, he says, snub Brown, but it wasn’t his fault. It was, he writes in The Telegraph, because of the president’s "Lady Macbeth," also known as First Lady Michelle Obama. Why, you ask, would Delingpole draw such a conclusion? We’ll let him explain:

At the moment in Britain, we’re still in the "Doesn’t she look fabulous in a designer frock" stage of understanding of Michelle Obama. Gradually, though, we’ll begin to realize that she is every bit the terrifying executive’s wife that Hillary Clinton was. Or, shudder, Cherie Blair.

We may just LURVE Michelle’s fashion sense. But Michelle doesn’t reciprocate our affection, one bit. Her broad-brush view of history associates Brits with the wicked white global hegemony responsible for the slave trade. Never mind that a white, Tory Englishman — William Wilberforce — brought the slave trade to an end. Judging by her record, Michelle does not make room for such subtle nuance.

Delingpole goes on to cite Mrs. Obama’s oft-cited — and oft-misquoted — statement that she had "never been proud to be an American," as well as her Princeton thesis — in which she writes "I will always be black first and a student second" — as evidence of her exclusive tendencies. It’s these tendencies, then, that led her to force her husband’s hand in his dealing with Prime Minister Brown. That’s what he thinks, at least. We’re not sure we agree.

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GreenTears
Mr. Delingpole should not get so carried away with his snub theory - snowstorms have a way of cancelling all plans. Best for the UK not to read too much into it!
By GreenTears on 03/05/2009 2:15 pm
SJMorgan

Especially after Obama snarked the DC School District for being such wusses when they cancelled school for a little snow a few weeks back????

Wonder what Obama would sya if they had done that to him while in London.

 Also read that the Brown children brought some very nice gifts to the Obama girls and Michelle dropped the ball and had to get some toy "Marine One"  helicopters from the White house gift shop!!!  ooops!!

That sell for $15.00 each

By SJMorgan on 03/05/2009 2:20 pm
GreenTears

Ooops - they need to set up that emergency gift closet! How come Desiree Rogers dropped the ball on this very important exchange? Isn’t she supposed to be in the know about these things?

By GreenTears on 03/05/2009 3:03 pm
BelindaJoy
Me thinks he doth protest too much… Sounds to me like a man that is afraid of strong women. When he sites as examples Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair, two women who are far from being traditional first ladies….yep, this guy has strong women phobia.
By BelindaJoy on 03/05/2009 3:10 pm
FrannieEm

Belinda,

My sentiment, which I posted at the end, exactly.  Can he be so transparent? 

By FrannieEm on 03/11/2009 4:19 pm
KellyInTexas
Transparent….there’s a familiar word. One that has been used by Michelle’s husband and not honored.
By KellyInTexas on 03/12/2009 10:39 am
CHardy

I would have to say this is one major "oooppppsss" somebody in his office dropped the ball on the gift exchange. 

By CHardy on 03/05/2009 3:12 pm
DeBrcaobj
The Brits are vicious when it comes to women, especially the wives of powerful men. They rip them to shreds in the media and blame them for everything.
By DeBrcaobj on 03/05/2009 3:50 pm
KellyInTexas
Ahhhhh…ever heard of the " Queen of England"? How many Queens have the British had and honored as the leader and ruler of their county? Queen….woman….powerful woman…does that ring a bell?
By KellyInTexas on 03/12/2009 10:42 am
DeBrcaobj
And, in typical fashion, British journalist James Delingpole just made that garbage up. There is no quote, no proof… just his race baiting commentary. And since when is the rambling of a journalist news?
By DeBrcaobj on 03/05/2009 3:53 pm
GrammaJ

I thought talking about Mrs. Obama’s clothes was out?  I could have sworn I saw a whole bunch of grousing about it and wondering why anyone would care what she wore, but here it is again, so it must be okay today.  OMG, the Obamas made a faux pas, if this story is true!  WELL!  You sure never saw anything like that happen when GW was in the White House!

By GrammaJ on 03/05/2009 4:36 pm
GrammaJ

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7918345.stm

This is the story I found when I Googled "Obama vist with PM Brown.  It doesn’t say anything about any snubs, and does seem to indicate a press conference happened.  Hmmmm. 

By GrammaJ on 03/05/2009 4:47 pm
BelindaJoy

I personally applaud the staff of wOw for providing us a plethora of topics to discuss. From generic and silly, to serious and in-depth. But what I would ask the staff to do is before you post an article on a thread for us to comment on, at the very minimum do a bit of research before it is posted to make sure the article is accurate.

As Gramma has posted, there is a link not only proving the news conference did indeed take place, but there is video to boot!  Therefore all of the preceding comments posted before Gramma J’s are a moot point.

By BelindaJoy on 03/05/2009 4:56 pm
MelBerg
I also tryed to find out more about this so called"snub" but came up with nothing!
By MelBerg on 03/05/2009 5:16 pm
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