Diplomatic Hiccup
The headline in the London Times is that the White House decided at the last minute to cancel a joint press conference between President Obama and British PM Gordon Brown, and instead do a "pool spray" in the Oval Office, where fewer reporters will have less time to shout out some questions. Says the Times:
British officials said that a joint "press availability" in the White House Rose Garden had been cancelled because it was blanketed in snow, but did not elaborate on why the event was not moved indoors.
Not true, a White House official tells me this morning. There never was a press conference scheduled. Though Spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday in his briefing that Obama and Brown would take questions, he did not say whether or not there would be a press conference. There is also something a bit objectively funny about the explanation of "British officials" in the London Times. Snow or no snow, an outdoor press conference on March 3 in Washington D.C. would be an extraordinary thing, especially since there are so many indoor spaces in the White House complex that could handle such an event.
UPDATE: I just finished a TV interview with a British station. All the questions were about how special the cross-Atlantic relationship is, and whether Obama, who is from Hawaii, is as much an anglophile as President Bush. Toby Harnden, a U.S. correspondent for the British Telegraph, has perhaps the best summary of this overwhelming insecurity:
Gordon Brown hasn't even arrived here in Washington yet and I'm feeling slightly queasy. Of course, Britain should want to be a pre-eminent ally of the United States. But do we need to be quite so crawlingly needy and obvious about it? The way the British government craves approval from President Barack Obama is humiliating, and very probably counter-productive.
Funny how it becomes self-fulfilling. British officials, so concerned to demonstrate close ties, announce a Rose Garden ceremony (in winter!) when no such ceremony has been firmed up. Then when the ceremony doesn't happen, their worst fears are realized, even though in fact there is no real issue in America about the "special" relationship.
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1
I'm shocked, shocked that a paper from another country (much less one from ours) would get something wrong in a story. I would like to see the schedule from the White House that indicated there would be a press conference in the Rose Garden.
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Let's see, Gibbs said yesterday that Obama and Brown would take questions. Now you are making a fuss because the London Times made assumptions? Sounds like that old "never assume" bit to me. -
2
ZOMG! Teh CONFLICT????!!!
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YES!....No...?...Maybe?...Maybe not?...
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Oh, OK. -
3
It's actually very weird IMO that they aren't taking questions in the traditional manner. This trip, IMO, has a very pushy feel to it. Unlike the Canadian meeting were things were planned out, Harper and Obama were able to present a prefabricated talking point about working together on powergrids (was that it? right?), and have a press conference that isn't happening here. And we have Brown talking about an international New Deal since he can't sell his policies at home; he wants the Obama stamp of approval on them. There is a clear international component to this; but no nation is going to sacrifice it's rhetorical autonomy.
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Very desperate, IMO. And it's only made Brown looked snubbed the way this was harped over. Especially given the full day the president has, lol, three other events I think. Hell, Canada got a whole day to itself.
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This wasn't well planned for Brown and has the feel of the White House doing it's duty with a foreign head of state coming in to town.
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4
It's worth noting that the British media getting in a flap about something is more or less standard operating procedure.
And Brown isn't the head of state. That's the Queen.
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5
Obama, who is from Hawaii, is as much an anglophile as President Bush.
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Bush, who had not been out of the country before becoming President, an anglophile???? Geez. -
6
[...] England, or does he, you know, really like England, as a special kind of friend? I wrote about it below. It's kind of pathetic. But then it must be hard begging favor from a former colony, so I won't [...]
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7
...but after all the emotional strain of having the bust of Winston Churchill evicted from the Oval Office in favor of a bust of that railsplitter from Illinois, no wonder they're sensitive.
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8
[...] England, or does he, you know, really like England, as a special kind of friend? I wrote about it below. It’s kind of pathetic. But then it must be hard begging favor from a former colony, so I [...]
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9
[...] England, or does he, you know, really like England, as a special kind of friend? I wrote about it below. It’s kind of pathetic. But then it must be hard begging favor from a former colony, so I [...]
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