Vengeance is His

Yes I know.  I’m just jumping back in without an explanation.  Maybe later.

President Obama seems to have a problem with our closest ally, the United Kingdom.

First there was the bust of Churchill:

A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to [Former President] George W Bush from the Government's art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.

The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush's tenure.

But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks."

(Rumor has it that the president treated the bust far less ceremoniously than that.)

Then there was the president’s treatment of  UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown days ago:

Obama, breaking with precedent, wouldn't grant the prime minister the customary honor of standing beside him in front of the two nations' flags for the TV cameras. [SNIP]

Still, Brown kept a stiff upper lip as he sat in the Oval Office yesterday as Obama, skipping the usual words of welcome for his guest, went straight to questions from the news services. Brown didn't get to speak for six minutes, after Obama had already answered two questions.

Many observers seem puzzled.  I’m not and neither is the UK press.  It’s about Kenya.

If you recall, before Kenya became Kenya (1963) it was a British colony known as British East Africa.  Between 1952 and 1960, there was this little “difference of opinion” between the UK and the natives of British East Africa—primarily from the Kikuyu tribe.  That conflict is known as the Mau Mau Uprising.  There were tens of thousands of African civilians killed and, according to Wiki, seven to ten thousand Africans interned by the British colonial masters.  In Dreams from My Father, President Obama says that his grandfather was tortured by the British during the conflict, though he was not a Kikuyu but a Luo.  Guess which prime minister ordered the Mau Mau insurgency to be put down.

Mystery solved.  It seems that the president is seeking to humiliate the progeny of those who humiliated his ancestors.  Revenge isn’t that complicated a motive.

However, a question remains.  Is this any way for a President of the United States to behave?

Read also about the gifts which the Obamas gave to the Browns during the latter's visit, especially this one: a collection of 25 classic American films on DVD.  Not exactly special.  And even more curiously:  Brits can't play American DVDs.

To be fair, Prime Minister Brown was thoughtless in his gift-giving as well.  One of his gifts to the president:  a seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.  One would expect a UK Prime Minister to know the history of his own country, but one could say the same thing about our own head of state.

UPDATE: Welcome, Ace's morons!

UPDATE: Welcome all others.  Just to clear up some items, I am half Luo like President Obama (take note of my URL), born and raised in the United States.  My father and the president's father arrived in the United States via the same means--the Mboya Airlift.

UPDATE (April 25, 2016): Welcome Instapundit readers! My new blog is located here.

Comments

[Paul A'Barge]

Priceless.

None of the rest of us put this together. You? Bamm, right on the nail head.

Thanks

[baldilocks]

Well, being half Luo like he is did help me to focus things. But thanks. :)

[FLKraKa]

So glad you are posting! You always have great insight from your posts and your comments at Hot Air :)

[JWest]

1. Thank you for the insight.
2. Unfortunately, revenge is a motive I understand all too well.
3. Now that he's got his licks in, maybe he'll be able to deal on a more statesmanlike basis.
4. Have read and enjoyed your blog for many moons.
V/R JW

[lee]

The DVDs are a worse present than you think.

Oh well, I guess that part of the world already loves us, no special effort necessary...

[CB]

Well, cool, glad to have another good blog to spend my unemployed days in! I'm already a fan/friend from Ace and HA.

And, to answer your question, this is NO way for a President to behave. But, meh, what did we expect?

[Paul A'Barge]

I may be one of Ace's morons, but I was a huge fan of yours long before Ace took control of me !-)

[Jim Treacher]

"Far less ceremoniously"? Do tell!

The Slap Chop and the Snuggie didn't ship in time, so Michelle printed the receipt and put it in one of the DVD cases.

[TheSitRep]

Muy informativo, thanks.
You rock as always Baldilocks.

[sarainitaly]

Thanks for this post! I wanted to write a post on this, and had a feeling that the snub had something to do with Kenya, but didn't know what exactly.

[bryanmyrick]

Fantastic work here, Baldilocks. Your angle is something no one else is reporting. Cheers to you for writing it and HotAir for passing it along.

[meleager99]

Is this any way for a President of the United States to behave?

Not that they share any other qualities..but re the British - Pres. Andrew Jackson?
And what is the defination of "allie" ?
http://eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com/2009/03/uk-restores-links-with-hezbollah.html

And what about losing Basra, negotiating loss of territory with the taliban and becoming a base for Islamic/Packistani terrorists cells? And not sending enough troops we requested? And not building battleships?
And cheering for Obama's election?And 1000 other deliverences to the enemey?
Instead, we allow good American and Englishman to die, and praise cowardly leaders? I think not.

meleager

[Sharkibark]

"President Obama seems to have a problem with our closest ally, the United Kingdom."

You just made a Canadian cry.

:(

[aengus]

A certain distrust and dislike of Britain and Britons is an indelible part of the American character - taught to every US schoolchild as a part of their heritage (Yorktown etc.)

I do not blame President Obama for humiliating the repulsive gargoyle Gordon Brown but it is hardly unusual. President Bush's third-in-command Donald Rumsfeld publicly humiliated Tony Blair in front of the entire world in 2003.

In my opinion Britain should simply stop pretending to have any influence over world affairs and take an independent stance, like France. Ending the Anglo-American alliance would be a massive step in the right direction.

[brca01]

I think that PM Brown was giving a gift to the American people through the President. The desk, volumes and pen holder will remain after BO is gone.

Winston Churchill's mother was an American. There has always been a special relationship between Churchill and the US. He gave the Iron Curtain speech here. He was made an Honorary US Citizen. The use of Churchill's bust, etc was a symbol of US/UK friendship.

Obama has let a personal animus affect the relationship with a close ally. My ancestry is Irish, but I am ashamed at how the PM was treated here.

[mcnorman]

Petulant little man.

[mcnorman]

Someone better warn the Queen of England.

THE Queen is to give Barack Obama a private “getting-to-know-you” audience next month.

Her Majesty will meet the new US President in advance of an economic summit in London.

The private meeting is highly unusual because Mr Obama will not be on a State visit.

Let's hope that he takes some course in "proper form."

[aengus]

"Winston Churchill's mother was an American. There has always been a special relationship between Churchill and the US."

That Churchill's mother happened to be an American was and is a tangential link (which he exploited for propaganda purposes) that seems more significant in the post-1960s era than it actually was at the time.

Winston Churchill only got into politics because he was Lord Randolph Churchill's son - just as Neville Chamberlain only got into politics because he was Joseph Chamberlain's son.

Churchill's American connection is a post-modern fantasy.

Britain would not have been in danger in the first place if not for the Washington Naval Treaty (1922) which effectively severed the Anglo-Japanese alliance and weakened the British Navy so badly that the entire country almost fell to Nazi Germany.

[Kyda Sylvester]

Kinda makes you wonder what he might have in mind for the progeny of those who enslaved his wife's ancestors. The president wants us to put aside childish things. I suggest he go first.

[Gary Rosen]

"Now that he's got his licks in, maybe he'll be able to deal on a more statesmanlike basis."

Dream on. What you see is what you got.

[Jaibones]

No surprise to me to read this, even though I was clueless about his shabby treatment of Brown and the Brits.

You, clearly, are not.

Great opinion, baldi.

[Jaibones]

You just made a Canadian cry.

Posted by: Sharkibark | March 05, 2009 at 06:13 PM
_____________________________

Yeah, that always leaves me wistful too, sharki. But decades of sniping from the frozen liberals have taken their toll, whereas the Brits have always taken their relationship with us - at least at the governmental level - as a source of pride, and well they should.

In purely geographical terms, it's hard to imagine how anyone else could be more important to the U.S. than the Canadians and their endless territory and cheek to cheek proximity. Sigh...

[joaquin]

Just more childish and inexperience behavior from the anointed one.

[Ree]

Glad To See You Back,

My Week In Review How the Obama Administration must view us. "Annoying Peasants" I Love Monty Python's Flying Circus.

http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/03/tgif-circus-life-meaning-of-life.html

[Kwongdzu]

Yes!!! She's back!!!

Pettiness and rancor in a president is really unbecoming and undignified. This is supposed to elevate the US in the eyes of the world ... how???

[Mike O'Malley]

Oh this is not good.

Pres. Obama abandons his living grandmother and half brother to poverty in Kenya yet he will spite Britain for the sake of his long dead Kenyan father and grandfather.

Say how many times did young Barack Obama meet his biological father after his parents divorced in January 1964?

[snuffyny]

Welcome back.
You've been missed.

[notropis]

"President Obama says that his grandfather was tortured by the British during the conflict"

He also thought his uncle freed Auschwitz. But, you're right, it's about what he thinks, not about what actually happened.

On the other hand, when the Michael Moore crowd claimed W. attacked Iraq in revenge for their attempted assassination of his old man, I didn't accept that motive.

I'm guessing that it's actually no deeper than that the Obama's will disrespect and snub everyone who are neither Michelle nor Barack.

The level of hubris and narcissism seen in the Clinton years will pale in comparison to what we'll see from the Obama years.

[MTheads]

I imagine Obama knew exactly what he was doing. He's signaling a sea change in America's mission and goals. I wonder who he'll consider worthy of full court honors.

[Tully]

Is this any way for a President of the United States to behave?

Not a sane and mature one who takes his oath to heart.

(Nice to see your pixels!)

[ErikZ]

Sigh.

I'm going to have to read that Biography just to keep up for the next 4-8 years, aren't I?

[babylonandon]

...and now Der ObamanFuhrer just channeled Bush 41 - "Read my lips,no new...earmarks?"

Liar.

[Ree]

Dick Gregory, 76, world famous activist, author, lecturer and comedian, appeared on the radio and television shows of Don Imus … this morning and made an historic announcement in connection with what he called “the inexcusable crisis of humanity in connection with the tragic state of the this country’s economy as a result of the past eight years of greed, arrogance and fear-mongering,” Gregory said.

Yep he won’t eat till it’s fixed.

http://imustimes.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/imus-dick-gregory-to-fast/

[Ree]

Check it out Obama's Teleprompter has a blog and is answering Rush's questions it is going viral. I found it this morning on Drudge.

http://baracksteleprompter.blogspot.com/

[Ree]

AG Eric Holder saying some of the NON Enemy Combatants might be released into America. This is a book about the Men who fought those NON Enemy Combatants.

Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following 9/11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty to one, they pursued the enemy across mountainous terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential if they were to defeat the Taliban.

http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/03/horse-soldiers-by-doug-stanton.html

[Veeshir]

Late to the party but.....
There's one apect to this that I haven't seen mentioned.

Recall that, as you mentioned, Obama gave back the bust of Churchill.

Notice the gifts Brown gave to Obama included a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

Now I think the Obamas were classless in their gift-giving, but.... The Brits appeared, to me at least, to be tweaking him first.

Also, think about the other gift,an ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, (I hope this doesn't tick you off, I don't mean to be rude, just historically accurate).

Since the blacks in Obama's family came from Kenya and were never slaves (unless they were slaves to other Africans) this could be a dig and add in (the part that might, but hopefully won't, tick you off) they were much more likely to be on the "supply" side of slavery (selling their enemies to Arab slave traders, European and American slave traders mostly staying on the west coast of Africa).

So that's at least one blatant and one, possible, more subtle dig back.