President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrived at London's Stansted Airport this evening ahead of the G20 summit/ The host country's a little smaller than Oregon, except with a lot more people. (AP Photo / Chris Radburn / pool)
by Mark Silva
The British press are having no end of fun with the portrayal of their homeland - "slightly smaller than Oregon'' - by the White House of the arriving American president who celebrated the British prime minister's visit to Washington with a boxed set of movie DVDs.
The U.K., the Telegraph's Toby Harnden notes of the press briefing book that the White House press office handed out to the traveling press departing from Andrews Air Force Base, is "generally mild and temperate'' and the "group of islands close to continental Europe'' has been "subject to many invasions and migrations.''
Wondering how all of this will help that "special relationship'' between the United States and Great Britain, Harnden takes special note of the description of Queen Elizabeth, who "enrolled as a girl Guide when she was eleven, and later became a Sea Ranger'' and during the war "put on pantomimes with the children of members of staff for the enjoyment of her family and employees of the Royal Household.''
(The White House hasn't divulged its gift for the queen yet -- the president will visit Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.)
The U.K. is not alone, however, in being likened to an American state. Germany is "about the size of Montana,'' the briefing book notes of other stops along the president's weeklong tour, the Czech Republic is "about the size of Virginia,'' and France, the largest nation in Europe, is "about four-fifths the size of Texas.''
For the record, the author notes:
Oregon: Pop. 3.7 million.
U.K.: More than 60 million.
Comments
Since it has been reported that there are some Americans sorely lacking in geography skills, I think it is a great way to let people know how large England, Germany, etc. are by comparing them in size to various states in the US.
Posted by: Janstress | March 31, 2009 4:13 PM
Will Michelle Obama please take ballet lessons?
She walks like a jock!
No matter what type of clothing she is wearing her masculine walk detracts from her presence.
Don't know if it's the roll of the shoulders, the spread -eagle stride, but very masculine.
Ballet could help.
Posted by: Jockey | March 31, 2009 4:18 PM
Ballet could help.
Posted by: Jockey | March 31, 2009 4:18 PM
Does her walk threaten your masculinity?
Posted by: bill r. | March 31, 2009 4:32 PM
The Obama's will be no match for the Sarkozy's.
Posted by: Inky | March 31, 2009 4:40 PM
Let's see, when was the last invasion of that "group of islands close to continental Europe"?
1066, wasn't it?
Posted by: DaveB | March 31, 2009 5:45 PM
It's nice to have a president (Obama) who is willing to listen to our allies rather than one who acts like a bleepity-bleeping cowboy (Bush).
Posted by: Rex Riffraff | March 31, 2009 6:19 PM
Jockey: Perhaps Rahm could give her a few lessons since he was once a ballerina - oops, a dance person.
Posted by: vla | March 31, 2009 6:33 PM
Jantress,
.
That's gov't funded education for you.
Posted by: Terry | March 31, 2009 9:05 PM
That DVD set was tacky, particularly if it were coded not to play in England.
Is someone intentionally setting Obama up?
Or is the protocol dept. at the WH just not ready for prime time?
Posted by: ornery | April 1, 2009 12:45 AM
Since the president thinks the U.S. has "57 states", perhaps a geography primer is needed by the White House as well as the press corps.
Posted by: Arthur Henning | April 1, 2009 3:15 AM
The largest nation in Europe is Russia and if you disregard Russia it is Ukraine, not France.
Posted by: lukas | April 1, 2009 8:42 AM
Let's see, when was the last invasion of that "group of islands close to continental Europe"?
1066, wasn't it?
Posted by: DaveB | March 31, 2009 5:45 PM
Try 1940. The Channel Islands (Part of the UK) were occupied by Germany after the fall of France.
Posted by: Lou | April 1, 2009 1:09 PM
Point taken, Lou. I forgot about that.
My point, though, is that, compared to the rest of Europe, where the armies have swept back and forth for centuries (the period since 1945, when the Germans and the French have actually been getting along, is a historical exception), the British Isles have not been subject to "many invasions and migrations." Not only is the briefing book dumbed down to a third grade level, it's plumb wrong.
Posted by: DaveB | April 1, 2009 1:45 PM
Dave, I think you're problem is that you're only thinking of successful invasions. There have actually been quite a number of invasions of the British Isles, many of which are not in the popular memory because they didn't have long lasting effects.
The last successful invasion of the British Isles was in 1688, when a Dutch force landed, and in conjunction with English parliamentary forces, placed William of Orange on the British Throne.
However there were also numerous landings throught the centuries in the British Isles by primarily French forces that attempted to support Stuart pretenders to the throne, or occasionally to try and support Irish Catholic uprisings. These attempts generally were utter disasters, but they were in fact invasions none the less.
I think you are being a bit hyper critical of the briefing book, when you look at it objectively. It isn't "plumb wrong."
Posted by: Lou | April 1, 2009 6:12 PM