All Things Considered, March 6, 2009 · President Barack Obama's gift of a set of DVDs to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown appalled the British media, furious about the lack of traditional protocol afforded to Brown while he was in Washington. Iain Martin, a columnist and blogger for the Daily Telegraph, wrote that he found Obama to be rudeness personified toward Britain.
Martin tells NPR's Robert Siegel that Britons are used to a full news conference when their prime minister is in town.
____________________________________________________________________
Not commonly known is that this DVD is a special collectors' set that, for reasons that will become clear, President Obama thought it wise not to keep. Dubbed by Dubya in mid-2008, "The Decider's Cut Platinum 25" was originally meant as an olive branch/training manual intended for field use in the Iraq theater (pun intended).
Here are a few selected excerpts from the scintillating commentary of our former leader:
Citizen Kane:
That poor old, misunderstood guy spending the end of his term in a big lonely house, sheesh do I feel sorry for him. My dying words'll probably be "yellowcake."
The Godfather:
Gotta offer you can't refuse, that's exactly what the nice boys from Halliburton told me when they had "the talk" with me my first day in office.
Raging Bull:
That's what I use to call the editorials of the Washington Post and New York Times when Rovie used to read 'em to me.
Singin' in the Rain:
We used to let the boys down it Gitmo watch this one. Fired 'em up to do a waterboarding right.
The Wizard of Oz:
"If I only had a brain," that's good, that's good.
Star Wars:
First time I saw that one I was drunk as hell, drunk as hell. Did help me later on with foreign policy, though. Good thing I'VE got the Death Star. In training the Iraqi security forces, we basically just show them this video to the soundtrack of "The Ace of Spades."
2001: A Space Odyssey
Space Odyssey, my ass. More like 2001: my ratings went through the stratosphere. But like that damn Humpty fella, they took a great fall.
The Grapes of Wrath:
That's Barry's problem now, ha ha ha!
ET:
I swear that little alien looks just like Condi after a long night on Air Force One.
Them stuffy dudes need to lighten up....Brown could care less 'cause he ain't down with no people trips an' he don't roll that way. Catching the game built into them talkies ain't on his card. I'm thinkin' a box of Larry, Moe, and Curly would have been a better deal.
ReplyDeleteAs it turns out those DVD's won't play in the European format! " Wrong Region" error code.
ReplyDelete