A Light-Hearted April Fool’s Day...

With the United States’ strongest ally in this world today.

Now, we all know that President Obama is still in his honeymoon phase, but when he disrespects both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Queen Elizabeth II, shouldn’t we take some notice?

When PM Gordon Brown came to the U.S. last month, he presented President Obama with several excellent gifts. The most impressive gift may have been this:

The British PM presented our president with a carved ornamental penholder from the timbers of the anti-slavery ship HMS Gannet. A perfect gift to place on his desk in the Oval Office which just happened to have been made from the sister ship of the Gannet — the HMS Resolute.

Think of it this way: 129 years after Queen Victoria presented President Rutherford B. Hayes with the desk made from the Resolute, Prime Minister Brown reunited the ships with this exquisite offering.

Excellent. Kudos PM Brown, for a well-thought out gift from the UK.

I do ponder if President Obama felt a little sheepish after he presented Brown with America’s gift. Apparently:

the British press took high exception to the modest presents the Obamas gave Gordon Brown and wife on their visit to the White House last month: a box set of DVDs, allegedly in the wrong format.

Although movies such as Star Wars and Psycho are American classics, it seems as though a more appropriate gift would be one that could not be purchased on Amazon.

So, President Obama arrived in Europe today to meet with the Queen of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty Elizabeth II. It’s a wonderful chance to make up for the so-so gift that he gave Gordon Brown! What does he bequeath her? An iPod.

The president gave the Queen an iPod with footage of her 2007 state visit to the U.S. already downloaded.

An iPod. Amazon must be the homepage for the Oval Office. However, with the footage of the Queen’s visit to the United States, it does become “more” thoughtful than before. And now the Queen has joined the iPod digital music revolution. Except that she joined it four years ago. Tough break, Mr. President.

Now, some might believe this story to be superficial, and to a certain extent it is. But it’s April 1st. I only wish that our President’s foolish gifts were a joke. Alas.