Mr. Brown gave Obama priceless gifts: The framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert. In addition, Mr. Brown’s gifts included an ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President. 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.
Obama gave Mr. Brown 25 DVDs. Brown is not known to be a film buff.
Was it intentional that Brown gave Obama the Churchill biography after Obama returned the Churchill bust that had been in the White House? Oh, did the US mainstream media fail to properly cover that gesture? Here is a link.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4623148/Barack-Obama-sends-bust-of-Winston-Churchill-on-its-way-back-to-Britain.html
Joan S: The loan was extended, but Obama refused. Obama’s staffers said of their snub that Britain was not special and just like any other nation. Who is being myopic? Okay, let’s focus on the big picture: Everything McCain warned us all about during the debates has come true: Obama is not able to do everything at once, and the 95% tax cut is completely untrue. If anyone understands the relationship between a W-4 and filing taxes, they know that we are not getting any additional money. We could do this on our own by changing the W-4. McCain also warned about $1 trillion in new spending outside of the bank bailout. Most of the country did not believe him, because he seemed kind of angry and did not project his voice well. I’m no McCain fan, but "WOW!" he is looking better every day. Even major Democrats are warning about the proposed Health Care spending. How does $0 for a rail project between Anaheim and Vegas go to $2 billion in the Senate and $8B in the compromise? REID.
While I am critical of Obama’s economic policies, I’ll be the first to admit that being an inexperienced President who is overwhelmed by an economic crisis doesn’t leave much time and energy for entertaining and gift giving.
On the other hand, if Brown was the CEO of a bank he would have received the gift certificate that’s good everywhere…money, and lots of it!