More on winning friends

Scathing piece from Iain Martin at the UK Telegraph today:

President Barack Obama just plain rude to Britain. Don't call us in future.

Why couldn't President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests? He looked like he simply couldn't be bothered.

Number 10 may be content that they just about got away with the visit to the Oval Office yesterday, as Andrew Porter reports from Washington.

But on this side of the Atlantic the whole business looked pretty demeaning. The morning papers and TV last night featured plenty of comment focused on the White House's very odd and, frankly, exceptionally rude treatment of a British PM. Squeezing in a meeting, denying him a full press conference with flags etc. The British press corps, left outside for an hour in the cold, can take it and their privations are of limited concern to the public.

But Obama's merely warmish words (one of our closest allies, said with little sincerity or passion) left a bitter taste with this Atlanticist. Especially after his team had made Number 10 beg for a mini press conference and then not even offered the PM lunch.

We get the point, sunshine: we're just one of many allies and you want fancy new friends. Well, the next time you need something doing, something which impinges on your national security, then try calling the French, or the Japanese, or best of all the Germans. The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps but beyond that you'll be on your own.When it comes to men, munitions and commitment you'll soon find out why it pays to at least treat the Brits with some manners.

So apparently the wagyu beef is reserved for bribing our own elected officials, not those across the pond. This growing pattern of snubbing our allies and embracing our adversaries is almost as troubling as the horrific economic policies. How much can an elected leader be allowed to damage his country, either willfully or through ignorance, before he is booted out of office? We may learn the answer to that question sooner than we could have imagined.