As Yael from Boker Tov, Boulder points out – Obama hates Britain almost as much as he hates Israel. If I were Romney I would mention to America and to Obama in any debate that the first thing I would do as president would be to request the return of the bust of Winston Churchill. How sad that Britons (according to polls) so wanted Obama to win in 2008.
hat tip – Boker Tov, Boulder
by Nile Gardiner
For the past two years I have published a list of Barack Obama’s biggest insults against America’s foremost ally, Great Britain, during his time in office. Here is an updated list to accompany President Obama’s hosting this week of an official visit to the White House by the British Prime Minister, as a reminder that a basketball trip to Ohio and a bells and whistles state dinner do not erase a track record of major insults by the Obama administration since it took office.
Mr Obama has been by far the most anti-British president in modern American history, kicking off his presidency with the removal of a bust of Sir Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, and continuing today with a policy of knifing Britain in the back over the Falklands. He will be all smiles and full of platitudes this week when he greets Mr Cameron in Washington, but the fact remains that for President Obama the Special Relationship has been largely a blip on his teleprompter screen, in his eyes an anachronism of a bygone era, rather than the engine of the free world.
Here are the 2012 rankings:
1. Siding with Argentina over the Falkland Islands
This has remained the top insult for three years running. For sheer offensiveness it’s hard to beat the Obama administration’s brazen support for Argentina’s call for UN-brokered negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falklands, despite the fact that 255 British servicemen laid down their lives to restore British rule over the Islands after they were brutally invaded in 1982. In a March 2010 press conference in Buenos Aires with President Cristina Kirchner, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave Argentina a huge propaganda coup by emphatically backing the position of the Péronist regime.
In June 2011, Mrs Clinton slapped Britain in face again by signing on to an Organisation of American States (OAS) resolution calling for negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, a position which is completely unacceptable to Great Britain. To add insult to injury, the Obama administration has insisted on using the Argentine term “Malvinas” to describe the Islands in yet another sop to Buenos Aires.
In 2012, against a backdrop of growing aggression by Argentina, including efforts to blockade international vessels fishing in Falkland waters, the Obama administration continued to undercut Britain. In January and February the State Department again supported direct negotiations between Argentina and Britain, parroting the line taken by Buenos Aires.
2. Calling France America’s strongest ally
In January last year, President Obama held a joint press conference at the White House with his French counterpart, literally gushing with praise for Washington’s new-found Gallic friends, declaring: “We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people.” As I noted at the time:
Quite what the French have done to merit this kind of high praise from the US president is difficult to fathom, and if the White House means what it says this represents an extraordinary sea change in US foreign policy. Nicolas Sarkozy is a distinctly more pro-American president than any of his predecessors, and has been an important ally over issues such as Iran and the War on Terror. But to suggest that Paris and not London is Washington’s strongest partner is simply ludicrous.
These kinds of presidential statements matter. No US president in modern times has described France as America’s closest ally, and such a remark is not only factually wrong but also insulting to Britain, not least coming just a few years after the French famously knifed Washington in the back over the war in Iraq.
3. Lecturing Britain on a federal Europe and undercutting British sovereignty
The Obama administration’s relentless and wrongheaded support for the creation of a federal Europe, from backing the Treaty of Lisbon to the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), is a slap in the face for the principle of national sovereignty in Europe. While the Bush Administration was divided over Europe, the Obama team has been ardently euro-federalist. Hillary Clinton called the Lisbon Treaty “a major milestone in our world’s history”, and in an interview with The Irish Times in 2009 stated: “I believe [political integration is] in Europe’s interest and I believe that is in the United States’ interest because we want a strong Europe.” And Vice President Joe Biden has described Brussels as the “capital of the free world.”
Most insultingly, the Obama administration has sought to intervene in British policy towards the European project. The US Ambassador to London, Louis Susman, has warned Britain that “all key issues must run through Europe.” According to a report by The Parliament.com, in a private meeting with British MEPs at an event in the European Parliament in January 2011, Susman called for a stronger British commitment to the EU, emphatically warning against British withdrawal:
[.......]
4. Betraying Britain to appease Moscow over the New START Treaty
In February 2011, The Daily Telegraphbroke a major story with damaging implications for the Special Relationship, revealing that Washington “secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty.” According to The Telegraph report:
[......]
5. Airbrushing Britain from Europe
A striking feature of Obama administration speeches on Europe is the frequent omission altogether of Great Britain, as if it doesn’t even exist. A major recent example of this was an address in January 2012 by Philip H. Gordon, US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, on “the state of transatlantic relations”, which completely left the British out of the discussion of the role of US allies in the Afghanistan and Libya operations, as well as the Iranian nuclear crisis. As I noted at the time:
It is a sad day when the most senior US official on Europe cannot even bring himself to acknowledge the vital role and huge sacrifices made by America’s closest partner on the battlefields of Afghanistan, while much of Europe barely lifts a finger in the war against the Taliban.
6. Throwing Churchill out of the Oval Office
It is hard to think of a more derogatory message to send to the British people within days of taking office than to fling a bust of Winston Churchill out of the Oval Office and send it packing back to the British Embassy – not least as it was a loaned gift from Britain to the United States as a powerful display of solidarity in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Obviously, public diplomacy is not a concept that carries much weight in the current White House, and nor apparently is common sense. Three years on, the Churchill bust incident continues to embarrass the Obama White House, and remains a sad symbol of this administration’s contempt for the Special Relationship as well as one of the greatest figures in British history.
7. Placing a “boot on the throat” of BP
The Obama administration’s relentless campaign against Britain’s largest company in the wake of Gulf oil spill was one of the most damaging episodes in US-UK relations in recent years, with 64 percent of Britons agreeing at the time that the president’s handling of the issue had harmed the partnership between the two countries according to a YouGov poll. The White House’s aggressive trashing of BP, including a threat to put a “boot on the throat” of the oil giant, helped wipe out about half its share value, directly impacting the pensions of 18 million Britons. This led to a furious backlash in the British press, with even London mayor and long-time Obama admirer Boris Johnson demanding an end to “anti-British rhetoric, buck-passing and name-calling”.
[.......]9. Insulting words from the State Department
The mocking views of a senior State Department official following Gordon Brown’s embarrassing reception at the White House in March 2010 says it all:
There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.
10. Confusing England with Great Britain
Perhaps less of an insult than an embarrassing indictment of Barack Obama’s Columbia and Harvard education, the president’s extraordinarily ignorant response to the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran last November, dubbing it the “English” Embassy, was the kind of elementary mistake that would have had America’s liberal press howling with derision had it been made a few years earlier by George W. Bush. As I wrote soon after the president’s gaffe:
It would be nice if the leader of the free world bothered to look at a map once in a while, or even paid a visit to the British Embassy in Washington, currently housing the Churchill bust that Mr. Obama unceremoniously threw out of the Oval Office soon after his inauguration… The White House will no doubt dismiss this latest faux pas by the president as a slip of the tongue, but it cannot disguise the fact that it has on many occasions treated Britain and other key allies with an air of disdain, and even contempt.
Read the rest – Barack Obama’s top ten insults against Britain – 2012 edition
Tags: Hillary Clinton, Nile Gardiner
Irrelevant.
What is relevant is, Obama has darker pigments in his skin
@ waldensianspirit:
I have a dream that a man will not be judged by the content of his character, but by the color of his skin…
[/21st Century Progressive Dream]
His treatment of Britain is a disgrace.
@ Iron Fist:
weaselzippers has a follow up:
Florida Democratic Official Smears Vets Over Obama Flag: “Certain Elements Can’t Accept Obama As President”…
What other politician in US history has ever made a campaign or in office flag with the stripes and their own likeness replacing the stars?
@ Speranza:
Slight progress. A grill is a step up from digital copies of his speeches
Self-determination is the right path for the Falkland Islands
@ waldensianspirit:
“Certain elements” just can’t accept that Obama has been a very bad President. But this controversy has nothing to do with his fitness for office, but the apropriateness of the actions of his followers. His cultists. Many Americans find Stalinesque cults of personality disturbing in their erstwhile “leaders”. An indication of mental imbalance, though we no longer classify narccissism as a mental illness…
@ waldensianspirit:
Wonder if they’d say the same thing if Texas decided they’d be better off as an independant nation where they could enforce their own voter ID laws and maybe even immigration laws…
Iron Fist wrote:
Amen to that.
A modern Falkland Islands, transformed by war
And Obama wants to destroy and decide their sovereignty
@ Iron Fist:
Future books on psychological pathology will have obama’s picture on the cover.
O/T cry me a river over the plight of the paleostinkians
Israel: Game called on account of rain — of rockets
@ citizen_q:
The man certainly is a piece of work. I don’t think we have ever had so arrogant a President. And certainly we’ve never had one as destructive to the country. His foreign policy is disastrous, his domestic policy is a joke, and yet he may very well win re-election. That is a truly frightening prospect.
@ citizen_q:
YOu know how I’d handle that. Line up the artillery, and shell Paleswine out of existance…
And of course the whole wine and dine of the British was to weaken the oil reserves of the West to help get Obama reelected
@ waldensianspirit:
Because unlike drilling, tapping the oil reserves will open an unlimited supply of oil…
The shere idiocy of this plan is breathtaking. People really believe that Obama is some kind of genius, when what he is is a used car salesman. He’s selling nothing but junkers, but people want to believe. That is how he won in 2008. People wanted to believe the Obama Myth. Well, now the Obama Reality is a hard pill to swallow. I wonder if enough people will wake up this time around?
@ Iron Fist:
I don’t understand why Israel doesn’t crush these people. It makes no sense to me.
@ Iron Fist:
He’s going to all proggie run countries getting them to help him get reelected. A commie like him cannot make anything or contribute to grow a real economy. Always manipulating and eventually putting it all on the backs of the people
@ Iron Fist:
Yet people worship this man as a Pharaoh.
@ waldensianspirit:
Oil has been going down since that report. Wall Street wants Obama re-elected. The fix is in.
It also doesn’t help the Republican Party sucks.
Oh well, this is how great nations die.
OT: ‘Hero Worship’ of a different kind
. . . after finishing ‘red phase’ (infantry training) last week, the ‘boys’ were treated to a football game. Black Knights traveled to Benning to play Armor. Amid all the pomp and excitement my boy’s training company was also treated to a talk by LTG Hal Moore (distinguished service cross) -- in the letter that just came today, he was moved to have shaken the man’s hand. I was moved that there are still real men worthy of our awe.
waldensianspirit wrote:
releasing oil reserves in an election year when there is no shortage of crude on the open market and no interuptions in supply from any quarters is ‘criminal’ IMHO -- And, should be stopped by Congress. This is an outrage.
Mecca
Iron Fist wrote:
I don’t know if you can even call him a democrat he has strayed off the reservation big time. He may very well destroy the democrats. If he wins re-election it will be through ‘voter fraud’. Sure there is a fringe of people who look upon him as some ‘cult leader’ but the shine has rubbed off that penny for most. I personally don’t trust the polls because I want to know who they are polling and what questions they are asking. Those two things can skew the polls.
I have never in my life seen a president like this and his anti-American dog and pony show. If my mother understands the fact this man cannot be re-elected and she is seeing this with her own eyes. He is losing his base. As far as white guilt I think the well has been tapped dry here.
@ Lily:
. . . from your lips to God’s ears (hope ur right)
spinmore wrote:
Indeed it is. Not only ‘criminal’ but ‘treasonous’ in my opinion. He is doing this and if something horrible happens we will be sh*t out of luck. The reserves are there for a reason in case we get attacked or some other disaster. Not to make political brownie points that will last all of 5 minutes. The list of things bho has done that is against the United States interests is growing and would be interesting to see. Then that list should go viral.
@ Lily:
I hope you are right. I know he is pretty universally despised around here, but then again he didn’t even come close to winning Tennessee last time. Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia are the States to watch. If he loses a couple of those (especially Florida), he is a one-term wonder. If he wins those four, then he has two terms in office.
Lily wrote:
RAAAAACIST!
spinmore wrote:
I pray I am. Just my guess. I’ve said before there is dis-quiet rumbling just beneath the surface that the people of the Unite States are not exactly happy.
I think this is the reason the NAACP is bringing forth to the U.N. United States voting laws, that it is a ‘human rights’ violation to require I.D. to vote. Desperate attempt my the obama machine to ensure voter fraud.
@ Iron Fist:
He is pretty much disliked around here too and even from the talk of some Texans I know he is not liked all that much. I don’t think bho has a snowballs chance in hell in taking the south and it isn’t because of his skin color.
The enemy within
http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/14/dnc-chief-wasserman-schultz-backs-holder-100-percent/
@ Lily:
. . . . does seem desperate from the ‘race baiters’
i pray for a ‘break through’ moment when black conservatives are heard on a larger scale then at present. I really would like to see a post-racial America. We need to address our country’s problems absent racial divides. If we see ANY movement in that direction (given the sad state of the economy)i will be happy. I’m talking about a shift in the ‘black’ vote towards the right.
Rodan wrote:
Born in Honolulu (maybe!), moved to Chicago
King Putt!
@ yenta-fada:
NO doubt they are the enemy, but Issa is going to do dick about it. I’ve said from the beginning that they were going to sweep Fast and Furious under the rug, and nothing to date has changed my mind. Where are the Contempt of Congress charges for Holder? He has lied to congress on numerous occassions, and Issa makes noise, but he’s like a toothless pit-bull: all bark and no bite.
@ spinmore:
We were most certainly getting there until bho was elected now all of a sudden there is racial tension he is pitting Americans against Americans in so many ways. Blacks against blacks, Blacks against whites, poor against rich people, he is waging class warfare on an epic scale and throwing lighter fluid on it in every which way he can. It is so wrong on so many levels. I am sure he is only warming up. If he loses he will certainly forment racial riots like this country has never seen before. I wouldn’t put anything past this man.
Rodan wrote:
“He’s the boy king.”
--Steve Martin, “King Tut”
Iron Fist wrote:
I’d have the same game plan. Dead enemies don’t take up arms again.
Iron Fist wrote:
After the clunkers for cash program, he wouldn’t even qualify for that. Lot sof otherwise good cars taken off the roads.
Iron Fist wrote:
Either that or he is waiting closer to the election to let this explode then.
/yeah I know I’m dreaming..but I still have to have some hope.
Of some note:
Seven years and some months.
2700 flights.
140,000 to 200,000 GI’s.
Dalls/Ft.Worth area people meeting the R & R planes from Iraq and Afganistain.
When they come off the planes,
“Cheers”
“Hand shakes”
“Back Slaping”
“High Fives”
“wifes ready to hug”
“kids runing to hug”
grand dad/mother
family
strangers
Yesterday the WW II Tuskegee Airmen were there.
Now all the planes will land in Atlanta Georgia.
Atlanta,, its yours now, Obama will not help you or make it easy.
The local Fox 4 TV was there and filmed, I’m sure its up on there web site, should be a very very cool vid.
FIFY, Nile!
taxfreekiller wrote:
I’ve seen video of President and Mrs. Bush (43) at a few of these welcome home celebrations.
heh
libs heads just esploded
rush is going to start tweeting
cj is crushed
@ rain of lead:
CJ will try to start a twitter fight (or is it a tweet fight) and Chuckles will suffer another epic twitter beat down!
