Gift giving, the lost art.

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Gift giving, the lost art.

Postby rhonnin » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:55 pm

Well, at least here in America.

President Obama on Thursday gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of 25 classic American movies to mark his historic visit to the White House.

Brown, the first European leader to visit Obama since his Jan. 20 inauguration, was presented with a "special collector's box" of DVDs during his two-day visit to Washington.

Downing Street, which reportedly tried to keep the present a secret, declined to say what movies were included in the set.

"One reason for the secrecy might be that the gift seems markedly less generous and thoughtful than the presents taken to Washington by the Prime Minister," London's Evening Standard newspaper reported.

The Daily Mail, however, reported the movie set included ET, Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz and was produced by the American Film Institute on "special request" from the White House.

Brown, who is not known to be a movie buff, gave the president and his children several uniquely historical gifts.

The first of which is a pen holder fashioned from the oak timber of HMS Gannet, a Navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Africa.

Another treasure given to Obama is a framed commissioning paper for the HMS Resolute, a Royal Navy ship that came to symbolize British-American goodwill when it was rescued by the U.S. from icebergs and given to Queen Victoria. It is the sister ship of the HMS Gannet.

Finally, Brown gave Obama a first edition of Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, whose World War II partnership with President Franklin Roosevelt symbolized the U.S.-Anglo alliance.

For Sasha and Malia, Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, gave each an outfit from Topshop, a British chain of clothing stores, and selected six children's books by British authors which have yet to be published in the U.S.

In return, First Lady Michelle Obama presented the prime minister's two boys with toy helicopters modeled after Marine One.

Obama was so touched by the gifts, he called Brown on board his plane on Thursday to thank him. The call was placed after Brown addressed a joint meeting of Congress, the White House said. The two reportedly spoke for 10 minutes.

The White House later issued a press briefing to put on record how much Obama appreciated the gifts.

"The pen set is being displayed on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and the books are in the President's personal study adjoining the Oval Office," the White House said in a statement.

During Brown's first trip to America in the summer of 2007, he was given a fur-trimmed brown leather bomber jacket by President George W. Bush.

The prime minister's reaction to the DVD set is not known.


Now, to be fair the gift from President Bush wasn't exactly appropriate either considering it's not PM Brown's taste but a dvd gift basket and a couple model helicopters from the white house gift shop is decidedly ghetto.
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Postby Gunther » Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:41 pm

OMG, that is a hoot. Apparently Michelle hasn't approved of any of the interns who have applied for jobs at the white House. After all, don't the interns buy stuff like that?
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Postby rhonnin » Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:17 pm

Well, I would be pretty impressed at the quality of goods in the UK if an intern could just run out and pick up a pen set made from the oak timbers of an historic ship, the commissioning papers for the hms Resolute and first editions of the Winston Churchill biography.
These are historic treasures that hold a lot of meaning and are symbolic of the long friendship between the US and Britain, as a citizen of this country I am blown away by the consideration that went into them and greatly shamed by our poor response.
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Postby Gunther » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:43 am

/agreed
I guess my sarcasm was lost in translation. :(
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Postby redwarrior666 » Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:14 pm

What could you really expect from this administration?
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Postby rhonnin » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:35 pm

At least we can rest assured that even though Bush is gone there will still be comedy in the white house.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/5011941/Gordon-Brown-is-frustrated-by-Psycho-in-No-10.html
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