Obama's Snub of Gordon Brown: Is it Racial?

H as Barack Obama snubbed the UK?

The British press thinks so and they have even reported that Obama has specifically snubbed their Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

The snubs started with the Obama's return of a Winston Churchill bust from the British government's art collection that had been presented to the White House after September 11 as a symbol of Transatlantic friendship and solidarity.

Churchill, whose mother was American, has been oft quoted by American politicians. But not by Obama, who prefers to cite the words and works of his hero Abraham Lincoln. A bust of Lincoln now sits in the Oval Office where Churchill once ruled.

The first formal meeting between Obama and Brown resulted in a snub when the meeting was scaled back. Instead of the traditional joint press conference, the Prime Minister was given an impromptu media briefing in the Oval Office.

The most recent snub was in the form a of exchange of gifts between leaders upon their first meeting.

Brown presented Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

This is an important, symbolic gesture as oak from the Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880.

Brown also handed over a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

In addition, Brown and his wife showered gifts on the Obama children, giving Sasha and Malia an outfit each from Topshop and six children's books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America.

In return, Obama gave the Browns a box of 25 DVDs and two models of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take home to sons Fraser and John.

My question is this, why the snubs?

I can only come to one conclusion ... and it has to do with the British involvement in Triangular trade, the economic force that brought slavery to the New World.

In this case, Transatlantic Triangular Trade operated during the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, carrying slaves, cash crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, the Caribbean or American colonies and the European colonial powers, with the northern colonies of British North America, especially New England, sometimes taking over the role of Europe.

British ships were often used to transport slaves.

Obama, who sold us on his post-racial and post-resentment rhetoric can't seem to practice what he preaches. Why else would he snub the Brits? Perhaps there is something after all to the association between the Obamas and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Well, it just goes to show, there ain't no class like no-class.

Obama Reality Poll Plunges Another 220 Points

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen another 220 points today on new concerns about the stability of General Motors and the ongoing uncertainty about the financial system. In afternoon trading as of this writing, the Dow is down 228.35, or 3.32 percent, to 6,647.49, a low not seen since April 1997.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 25.61, or 3.59 percent, to 687.26. The S&P has not traded below this level since October 1996. The Nasdaq composite index fell 39.54, or 2.92 percent, to 1,314.20.

I will now refer to the stock index on this blog as the 'Obama Reality Poll' in honor of the novice president's statement Wednesday dismissing this week’s plunge in the market as a “day-to-day gyration” similar to daily tracking polls during an election campaign.

AIM: Justice for Victims of the Weather Underground

Writing for the Accuracy in Media Web site, Cliff Kincaid says a live version of “Forensic Files” hits Washington, D.C. on March 12, as pressure mounts for an expanded probe of Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, and their alleged roles in the 1970 bombing murder of a San Francisco policeman.

For those who may have missed the rather shallow reporting on the issue by the media over the last election cycle, Ayers and Dohrn, now university professors, were members of a communist terrorist gang called the Weather Underground during the 1960s and 1970s whose aim was to support communist regimes and anti-American movements around the world and destroy the United States. The group received terrorist training in Communist Cuba and was advised by Soviet and Cuban intelligence agents.

President Barack Obama started his political career in Ayers' home and served with Ayers on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago between 1999 and 2002.

There's a glut of fact-checking articles on the Internet that delve into the depths of the Obama-Ayers relationship. However, Obama dismissed the relationship several times during the election as a distraction and irrelevant saying Ayers was just someone who lived in his neighborhood.

Read it.

Obama's 'Amateur Hour at Our Darkest Moment'

Throughout history, phrases have been coined that distill the reality of the moment. Here are a few proverbs that apply to Obama's handling of the economy and the resulting lost decade is has brought us:

Actions speak louder than words.

A bad tree does not yield good apples.

A man is known by the company he keeps.

Every ass likes to hear himself bray.

Fiddling while Rome burns.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Since Obama took office on Jan. 20, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has lost over 1,000 points, including a nearly 400-point drop on Feb. 10 after a disappointing speech by Obama’s Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on sorting out troubled assets. Cramer pleaded with the administration to take note of the possibility it might have something to do with that.

Likewise, since the election on November 4, the Dow has given up a staggering 2,800 points.

CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, who first said that perhaps a Democrat-controlled federal government might not be the best thing for the U.S. economy earlier this year, said the following on March 2 when he questioned the merits of Obama's abilities to contain the market turmoil and wondered if those in the administration were even bothered by it:

“I thought the prices, the screen, the action, the sense of a vortex down that cannot be stopped, of equities becoming worthless, of savings becoming tattered, of a stock market without bottom,” Cramer said. “But this time in slow motion, I felt the total lack of control that we all feel right now – the ‘it’s out of my hands,’ the ‘where’s the authority,’ the, ‘Hey, it’s amateur hour at our darkest moment.’ It’s the feeling of capitalism vanishing, businesses capsizing under their own weight – thanks to an administration that doesn’t seem to know or maybe doesn’t care.”

The “Mad Money” host observed that the “change” mantra that Obama campaigned on was actually coming to fruition, but he said it was coming to the detriment of the American economy.

“Hey – I get it,” Cramer said. “Young president, big landslide, vigorous agenda, Congress that smells Republican blood – might find changing the world simply irresistible. We all want to change the world. I know I’d like to change the world, but when you talk about wealth destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out?”

Baghdad Bob Gibbs: Nobody Attacked Bush on Iraq

The White House has as of late shown a willful foolishness to invoke the name of radio host Rush Limbaugh whenever challenged.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Monday to ask Republicans if they agree with Limbaugh's desire for Obama's economic policies to fail.

"Do they want to see the president's economic agenda fail? You know, I bet there are a number of guests on television throughout the day and maybe into tomorrow who could let America know whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend."

"I can only imagine what might have been said a few years ago if somebody might have said that on the other side relating to what was going on in this country or our
endeavors overseas," Gibbs said.

The last part of Gibbs quote speaks for itself.

As I recall, EVERYONE on the other side attacked Bush on his handling of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not only did they attack Bush, they said the war was lost, accused U.S. troops of terrorism, and called General David Petraeus a liar.

Democrats did everything in their power to derail the war effort at home so Bush would fail.

So, in honor of the real Baghdad Bob, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, here are some other audaciously hopeful quotes:

After U.S. Troops Penetrated Central Baghdad:

April 5, 2003
"Nobody came here. Those America losers, I think their repeated frequent lies are bringing them down very rapidly.... Baghdad is secure, is safe."

April 7, 2003
"The Americans are not there. They're not in Baghdad. There are no troops there. Never. They're not at all."

On April 8, 2003, Baghdad Bob disappeared, perhaps forever. On the other hand, perhaps he recently returned as press secretary for a new American president and will eventually find work as a reporter for CNN or MSNBC.

In Just 6 Months, Obama Creates Lost Decade

The Wall Street Journal today reported that the stock slide that pushed indexes to new 12-year lows picked up speed in the afternoon on fears that economic recovery may still be a long way off.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled through the 7000 level shortly after the open, then through 6900 and 6800 to finish at 6763.29, down 299.64, or 4.2%.

The Dow has fallen 7,401.24 points from the October 2007 record, a 52% drop.

If we are to agree that in September 2008 it seemed clear that Obama would be elected president, then we can say that the Dow has fallen from around 12,000 to close today at 6763.

The threat then the reality of the Obama presidency in just six months has lost a decade of earnings.

We don't need Rush Limbaugh to say he hopes Obama will fail.

Obama is failing on his own.

White House, TV Networks Coordinate Limbaugh Attack

The Politico recently reported that Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has a daily phone conference call with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, and CNN's James Carville and Paul Begala.

With Rush Limbaugh's raucous CPAC address we can see at least one example of what is likely an attack strategy resulting from the Emanuel phone session to bash Rush the day after the appearance.

NewsBusters reports as soon as the sun rose on the day after Limbaugh's CPAC appearance, three of the four of the phone call participants attacked Limbaugh with the same talking points. It seems obvious that they coordinated their attack together in the Obama secret strategy session. It is amazing that a president's staff can have such power over major media figures without a peep being heard from those that only months ago bashed former presidents over a perceived undue, even "dangerous," control of the media.

The morning after Limbaugh's CPAC speech, Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel appeared on CBS News' Face the Nation and told Bob Schieffer that Limbaugh was the "voice of the Republican Party," and that he "hasn't stepped back from" the "hopes for failure" he expressed for Obama's administration.

James Carville, obeying his Obama marching orders, said pretty much the same thing in his CNN commentary headlined, "A history lesson for Rush Limbaugh," where Carville began by saying that Rush is the "moral and intellectual leader and most influential person in the Republican Party."

As for ABC's George Stephanopoulos, he employed the same talking point about Rush's hope that Obama's socialist policies would not succeed -- though it is sure that Stephy didn't call Obama's policies socialist. In an interview with Eric Cantor, Stephanopoulos said, "So the Rush Limbaugh approach of wanting the president to fail is not the Eric Cantor, House Republican approach?"

Why are these secret phone call strategy sessions not a matter of public discussion?

That the White House is orchestrating media messages with the supposedly independent press corps is very questionable.

Should we not see this as the sort of collusion between the press and the White House that leads to public information controlled by political spinmieisters in the belly of the White House instead of journalists interested in truth?

Where are those that only until recently claimed to be interested in a free press dedicated to the real story?

NewsBusters