Sarah Vine of the London Times says that British First Lady Sarah Brown gave the Obama kids awesome gifts on a recent visit — dresses and books by English authors — but that Michelle Obama cheaped out by giving the Brown boys toy models of Marine One.
Vine sees it as a major international affair, a first-class, deliberate snub.
I don’t get it, though. I’d love a toy Marine One.
In return Mrs Obama gave the Brown children, Fraser and John, two toy models of Marine One, the Presidential helicopter. Fair enough on the helicopter part, always a popular choice with small boys; but Marine One? It’s not as though anyone needs reminding that Barack Obama is President or that he has his own helicopter. Short of giving the boys Action Man models of her own husband smiting the evil forces of neoconservatism, Mrs Obama’s gesture could not have been more solipsistic or more inherently dismissive of Mrs Brown.
UPDATE: And PM Gordon Brown himself only got 25 DVDs from Obama. He gave Obama an ornamental pen made from wood from a Victorian anti-slave ship.
