The more I read about the supposed snub the more it seems to me to have been almost entirely a figment of the British media's imagination. Time's Michael Scherer sees a pattern:
This is essentially par for the course. If Brown and Obama are going to be in the same city, the British Press, apparently aided by leaks from Downing Street, just has to throw a tantrum of some sort. Is the special relationship between Brown and Obama really special? How special? Etc.
Why must the media here make us sound like a desperately insecure boyfriend?
Robert Gibbs - no fan of the British press - described it, wearily, as a bunch of silliness, which pretty much sums it up (though he blames the tabloids, when I think this imaginary hare was set running by Nick Robinson at the BBC).
Former U.K. ambassador to the U.S. Christopher Meyer has joined the professional hacks in perpetuating the he-loves-Brown-he-loves-Brown-not hysteria. (As Meyer has done, according to a Google search, several times earlier this year as well.) See his latest piece, in the Daily Mail at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1216224/CHRISTOPHER-MEYER-Why-Barack-Obama-turning-Britain.html. Considering Meyer left D.C. and retired from the Foreign Service six years ago, it seems incredibly cheeky of him to expect readers to believe he has any unique insight to share about how Obama and Brown really, truly get on. Oh, well, retired diplomats need to cash in on those "hardship postings" somehow.
Posted by: Lyle | September 26, 2009 at 05:17 PM
PRECISELY.
Posted by: Marbury | September 26, 2009 at 08:43 PM