I am utterly f**king AMAZED that with the global economy in free fall and

[carpe diem]

two wars (that we know about), one of which is getting worse, that a single drop of ink is being spilled on the gift exchange among world leaders. Seriously?!?! I cannot believe that the President or anybody on his staff has to spend time pondering just the right gift for just the right dignitary under these circumstances. The only gift either of them should be concerned with is saving our respective economies and stopping the death and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why is this a story that anybody cares about? I hope the White House institutes a policy of NO MORE GIFTS given or received until the economy is stabilized, everybody has a job.

[Captain Hilts]

1. People get paid to do this. The protocol chief at State. nt

[emilyg]

5. Yep.

[Cha]

8. Yes, and

Good job, Protocol Chief at State.

[Uzybone]

2. Its the same mentality that put us in the shit we are today

A surprising large amount of people are very easily distracted by shiny useless things.

Good thing is that neither PM Brown and President Obama seem to care about this nonsense. Its the useless chattering class that is wringing their hands.

[Numba6]

3. But we could use 3 or 4 more threads on here on the subject

Just to show we have our priorities in order

:popcorn:

[FreakinDJ]

4. He came "Begging to Congress" for USA not to protect manufacturing

Why the F%^& should Obama roll out any thing to him

This goes to show the flaw of the "Free Trade" arguement

The whole world is begging to come courting the American consumer. We have the market, we have the economy, why not protect it. We need a STRONG manufacturing base if we are ever going to work our way out of the HUGE deficits and this Global Economic Melt Down

[marshall]

6. But this is what diplomacy is about

It's about forging relationships between peoples of differing interests and backgrounds. And it's about first impressions.

This isn't as bad as when the elder Bush vomited at a function in Japan but it is getting off on the wrong leg, and sticks out because it is the first step of a freshman administration. But I'm sure they will get things set straight quickly.

[midnight]

7. Wow. You are so right. "NO MORE GIFTS "

No more wars. No more suspension of the Constitution. No more poverty. Sorry, I got going on a roll. Every time I read common sense posts, it just makes me get carried away with hope.

[Igel]

9. Precisely.

People get bent out of shape over symbolism, silly stuff.

There was the Blair House incident, for example. I mean, it's not like symbolism's meaningful. Obama found a place to stay when he wanted to show up earlier than traditional, so nobody was hurt.

All the ink and cortisol used up over the incident.

Silly symbolism.

Well. Maybe not always so silly. Depends on who's perceived to have been disrepected, doesn't it?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

10. Actually, I suspect it's not a total non-story.

My guess is that world leaders use exchanges of gifts of this form as a method of signalling to one another and to the press and electorates who is in and who is out of favour.

So while the gift of a tie-pin or a ceremonial white aardvark may not matter in itself, one can probably read quite a bit about international relations into it.

[cascadiance]

11. We should also have it be FORBIDDEN for any companies to do campaign contributions (aka gifts)...

... if they are getting ANY kind of bailout money. We tax payers should REFUSE to allow them to use OUR money to buy off congressmen.

[cooolandrew]

12. Yep, it's a non story, going nowhere. There are lots of bigger fish to fry, I agree.

[malletgirl02]

13. My Opinion

My opinion is the reasons the people who did the stories and the people harping on the story, don't care the economy is in free fall, because they have jobs and are doing ok. On the other hand maybe we need to be careful. In Henry V the French King gave King Henry a bad gift and he invaded France. Just trying to inject some levity into the situation.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. BTW, POTUS is not allowed to keep gifts.

Saw a story on this a few years back on Sixty Minutes. There is a huge collection of gifts that have been given to US Presidents in the past, and they are all in storage. I believe the POTUS is allowed to keep a small number of gifts of minimal value; all the rest are officially gov't property.

So there's no point in encouraging personal gifts -- the PM's gift will remain in the Oval Office, as a gift to the Office of the President, not its occupant, just as the desk did.

Of course, there are some cultures where gifts are de rigeur, so visiting dignitaries will continue to bear gifts.