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  • Gordon Brown's new DVD collection.

    Obama's DVD gift to Brown - it's the thought that counts

    The British press are appalled by Barack Obama's present of 25 DVDs for Gordon Brown. But could there be a message in the president's selection?
    Comments (89)
    Gordon Brown and Barack Obama

    Present tense ... Gordon Brown and Barack Obama. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

    Well, what would you buy Gordon Brown? He's not a man known for pleasure - rather as the sort to take an afternoon's summer holiday before heading straight back to work, so it must be hard. But Barack Obama can't have predicted the scornful response of the Daily Mail when he decided to pick Gordon up a few DVDs.

    In return for a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of the one the White House desk is made from and a first edition of a seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, the Mail is appalled that "Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country" gave Brown a box set of 25 DVDs selected by the American Film Institute. These, it says, include Raging Bull, Casablanca, Psycho and The Graduate. It is, the Mail says, "a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks".

    Yet another example of the British press's apparent mission to feel snubbed by Obama on Gordon Brown's behalf - and obsession with the passing of the special relationship with Bush (at best, bittersweet). Was it only yesterday a commentary in the Times bemoaned the supposed injustice of the Browns giving the Obama's daughters Top Shop dresses (with matching necklaces) when all their parents gave the Brown boys were models of the presidential helicopter Marine One? Yes it was.

    Still, it's difficult to resist reading political messages into these films. Like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, could Brown have been "a contender ... a somebody" if the US Congress had shown a little more interest in his global New Deal? Like Luke Skywalker on the Millennium Falcon, is Brown's history of support for light-touch financial regulation in the City of London now endangering the mission?

    The 25 films also include two from the end of the Great Depression: the Grapes of Wrath (recommended to Obama on this blog a while back) and the Wizard of Oz. Perhaps there is something here. A 1990 paper in the Journal of Political Economy argued it could be read as monetary allegory: in this interpretation the yellow brick road represents the gold standard (a return to which is not US policy).

    Among the rest are three of Obama's five personal favourites, according to his Facebook page: Casablanca, The Godfather and Lawrence of Arabia (omitted are the second Godfather film and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

    Obama is, incidentally, really, really pleased with the pen holder and books. The White House even put out a press release saying so. It tells us the president thanked the prime minister and "noted 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".

    Maybe Brown's office will tweet each time he watches one of the 25. The Mail's full list is here. Please add your own cinematic/political interpretations below.
    “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

  • #2
    bama's Gifts To Brown Irk British Media

    Listen Now [3 min 31 sec] add to playlist

    All Things Considered, March 6, 2009 · President Barack Obama's gift of a set of DVDs to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown appalled the British media, furious about the lack of traditional protocol afforded to Brown while he was in Washington.

    Iain Martin, a columnist and blogger for the Daily Telegraph, wrote that he found Obama to be rudeness personified toward Britain.

    Martin tells NPR's Robert Siegel that Britons are used to a full news conference when their prime minister is in town.

    "Only at the last moment was it agreed that there would be a small press conference, and, I think, it was read as a metaphor for the concern that Obama really just didn't like having the Brits in town," Martin says. "Yes, he's dealing with the biggest global crisis in 70 years.

    "Still, it would have been nice if he could have welcomed Brown with just a hint more enthusiasm."

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=101561670
    “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

    Comment


    • #3
      I am appalled as well. He should at least given Brown BluRay discs instead of DVDs.
      "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

      Comment


      • #4
        Tut, Tut. Very educated; NOT. No 'News Conference' because Obama wasn't ready for it, and his auto que was broken.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Chaobam Armour View Post
          Tut, Tut. Very educated; NOT. No 'News Conference' because Obama wasn't ready for it, and his auto que was broken.
          Not a good start........Brown hasn't got a DVD player:)) I am sure reciprocation will be 'adjusted' when Mr President visits the UK. This is a hoo-ha over nothing. There are more pressing engagements than "who gave what to whom":)

          Comment


          • #6
            Obama was given something far more educational.

            Comment


            • #7
              Embarrassed and Appalled. The man presented you with a gift of history as has transpired between American Presidents and British Priministers for decades and is dam near tradition and you give him 25 cd's?

              What the hell were you and your advisors thinking man?

              Certainly not a good example of how things should be done. Idiots!

              You might as well insulted the man.
              Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

              Comment


              • #8
                It gets better


                "They're Region 1, they won't play in the UK."
                http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/iain_ma...vds_developing
                Did President Barack Obama gift Gordon Brown unplayable in the UK DVDs? Developing...
                Posted By: Iain Martin at Mar 6, 2009 at 20:05:03 [General]
                Posted in: Politics , Three Line Whip
                Tags:
                View More
                Alex Massie, Casablanca, dvds, et, Gordon Brown, Michell Obama , President Barack Obama, Pyscho, Region 1, Region 2, Star Wars, Wizard of Oz

                Giftgate threatens to take another twist and turn. Alex Massie at Coffee House flags up a vital and hitherto unconsidered aspect of the row, via one of Mark Hemingway's readers.

                "It would be funny if the DVDs Mr Obama gave Mr Brown were Region 1 NTSC and therefore not compatible with the UK where DVDs are region 2 and video format is PAL."

                This is quite a serious question. I have a vision of the Browns, Gordon and Sarah, settling down at the PM's country retreat (Chequers) this weekend. The children have been put to bed and Mr Brown heads in the direction of the DVD player:

                GB: "The Obamas bought us some films on DVD. That was very thoughtful."

                SB: "Not that thoughtful..."

                GB: "What shall we watch? ET? Star Wars? Psycho, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia?

                SB: sighs... "Seen them all."

                GB: "I'll try The Wizard of Oz, it's the version in which all the colours have been restored to the original quality. We can stop and try something else if you don't like it. Where's the remote control?" (GB fiddles with the DVD player for several minutes) "Right, I think it's going to start." (Nothing happens, machine displays a notice saying 'disc loading error').

                SB: (examining DVD cover) "They're Region 1, they won't play in the UK."

                The Browns sit in complete silence for several more minutes reflecting on what this means.

                Let's hope that somebody in the White House was aware of the difference between the formats and acted accordingly when ordering the DVDs. I have asked Number 10 to clarify and will post an update when they respond.
                “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

                Comment


                • #9
                  Can't they watch 'em on a computer? Just get a jack to plug it into the TV, if you want a big screen.
                  I enjoy being wrong too much to change my mind.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by gunnut View Post
                    I am appalled as well. He should at least given Brown BluRay discs instead of DVDs.
                    And I would have thought the boxed set of 'Girls of the Playboy Mansion' would have gone down better with Gordon.
                    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                    Leibniz

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Chaobam Armour View Post
                      Obama was given something far more educational.
                      Yep, a lump of wood. Can't get more educational than that.

                      It must be something about you English, her indoors shipped a piece of pine, 6x4x4 all the way from England to here, a meditation block or something.
                      Oh no says I, it's nigh on impossible to get a bit of pine block here
                      In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                      Leibniz

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Good thing it wasn't another button trying to reset something.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Parihaka View Post
                          Yep, a lump of wood. Can't get more educational than that.

                          It must be something about you English, her indoors shipped a piece of pine, 6x4x4 all the way from England to here, a meditation block or something.
                          Oh no says I, it's nigh on impossible to get a bit of pine block here
                          I was actually referring to the First Edition of a Seven Volume Biography of Winston Churchill actually, not the 'PEN' (wood) per say, mind you it is the same wood as the Table in the White House.;)

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Chaobam Armour View Post
                            I was actually referring to the First Edition of a Seven Volume Biography of Winston Churchill actually, not the 'PEN' (wood) per say, mind you it is the same wood as the Table in the White House.;)
                            Well I could argue that the Seven Volume Biography of Winston Churchill is just a block of wood with value added, but point taken. Although for all the use President Obama will get from the books, the pen holder will be the better prezzie methinks.
                            In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                            Leibniz

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Chaobam Armour View Post
                              I was actually referring to the First Edition of a Seven Volume Biography of Winston Churchill actually, not the 'PEN' (wood) per say, mind you it is the same wood as the Table in the White House.;)

                              You wouldnt happen to be refering to the Resolute Desk would you from the HMS Resolute? Supposedly the Queen has a matching one as well and gave one to the President as a gift long time ago.
                              Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

                              Comment

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