Uh-oh: the Obamas are exchanging gifts with a world leader again.
Let’s hope they didn’t just grab a robe from whatever hotel they’re staying in and wrap it in tissue.
During their private meeting, President Obama and first lady gave the queen a personalized iPod with video footage of her 2007 visit to Washington and Virginia. She was also given a rare songbook signed by composer Richard Rodgers.
In return the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, gave the Obamas a signed portrait of themselves.
Eh. Maybe they should have just grabbed a hotel robe and wrapped it in tissue.
Can you imagine handing Queen Elizabeth an i-pod? “Ah, how sweet, a …um …toothpick holder. Thank you, dear.”
And…um…a signed portrait of…yourself? Is that common over there?
And get this:
After her meeting with the Obamas, the queen held a reception for all the world leaders attending the summit.
They gathered in the palace’s picture gallery and were served champagne, wine and canapes of chicken with zucchini on skewers, mini Cornish pasties, smoked quail eggs, foie gras and tiny rolls of duck filled with melon.
Maybe it’s just my barbecue-and-beer, just-add-cheese, oh-yes-we-can-TOO-deep-fry-that Midwestern upbringing talking here, but…smoked quail eggs? Eeeeewww.
You know what happened? Weeks ago the Queen’s staff decided to make the Obamas eat that stuff and smile while they did it to get even for that Gordon Brown DVD fiasco and, if necessary, whatever protocol fiasco went on between them and the Queen.
Like this:
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I like Jonah Goldberg’s version: “Mr. Obama rather unceremoniously handed the Queen a shopping bag from the Duty Free shop at Heathrow airport. It contained a signed paperback copy of Dreams of My Father, purchased at the WH Smith shop at the airport, a bottle of Johnny Walker Scotch (black label), a CD of the Swedish band ABBA’s greatest hits (still in shrink wrap with a 2-for-1 sticker on it) and ten bags of M&Ms with the presidential seal on them.”
I guess you missed the part about “a rare songbook signed by composer Richard Rodgers.” That’s a fabulous gift, considering the Queen loves Rodgers and Hammerstein. And how is a signed picture of the Queen and her husband any better than a personalized iPod loaded with footage of Obama and the Queen? Answer: The iPod is way better. And it’s a better model than the Queen’s previous one.
John, obviously I didn’t “miss” it. I posted that part. I guess you missed the part where I made fun of the signed picture.