# President and Mrs. Obama in Europe **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 30, 2009, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271 "2009-03-30T07:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/21 "2009-04-02T14:21:01Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > A guffawing Prince Philip then blurted out: “Can you tell the difference between them?” He’s just doing his job. That was an utterly bone-headed remark by Obama. Proud to have not fallen asleep?! Now everyone’s concentrating on Phil’s gaffe rather than Obama’s. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/22 "2009-04-02T14:23:38Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Yay! Thanks for the slideshow Elendil’s Heir and the photos of the Queen with the Obamas SaharaTea. I am interested in all the wonky political stuff President Obama is up to, but as a perfectly shallow person too, I’m besotted with Michelle, her intellect, her strength, her compassion and yes, her wardrobe. I just wish she’d stand up straight more often. She is a lovely woman and has a great wardrobe - and when she stands up straight she looks incredible. But so many pictures of her have her doing the “tall girl slouch.” I feel like my mother when I look at her “stand up straight!” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/23 "2009-04-02T14:53:31Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > He’s just doing his job. That was an utterly bone-headed remark by Obama. Proud to have not fallen asleep?! Not a gaffe - the original context was about jetlag. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/24 "2009-04-02T17:04:31Z")
So what’s all this about hot girl-on-girl action between Michelle and Liz? Is a 3 second sideways embrace really all that big a deal? I shudder to think what W. would have done in Michelle’s place (Grab-ass anyone?), but fortunately he was not. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/25 "2009-04-02T17:53:54Z")
Buck House says no big deal, it was a spontaneous warm gesture by both. Pretty unusual for the Queen, though, who is customarily very reserved. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/26 "2009-04-02T18:03:20Z")
More pics of the First Lady: [Michelle Obama in London](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/5094551/Michelle-Obama-in-London.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/27 "2009-04-02T18:03:31Z")
I read somewhere that the iPod came loaded with pictures and videos of the Queen’s last visit to the US. That seems like a nice, personalized present to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/28 "2009-04-02T18:16:16Z")
And, as has been reported before, the Queen is likely to appreciate such a gift. For an 83 year old lady, she has the reputation of being quite a technophile. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/29 "2009-04-02T20:15:56Z")
The Ipod also contained many [Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodgers_and_Hart)songs to accompany the signed book. While I recognize it’s proper protocol, does anybody else find the notion of expected expensive gift-giving on state visits to be somewhere between tacky and outdated? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/30 "2009-04-02T23:56:00Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > …While I recognize it’s proper protocol, does anybody else find the notion of expected expensive gift-giving on state visits to be somewhere between tacky and outdated? Yeah, given how fraught the whole process can be with the potential for being perceived as cheap/tacky/thoughtless/careless, and the fact that some of the recipients aren’t even legally permitted to keep the damn things, I think it’s probably time for an international treaty banning the exchange of gifts between heads of state. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/31 "2009-04-03T02:26:44Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yeah, given how fraught the whole process can be with the potential for being perceived as cheap/tacky/thoughtless/careless, and the fact that some of the recipients aren’t even legally permitted to keep the damn things, I think it’s probably time for an international treaty banning the exchange of gifts between heads of state. 😃 Or they could all draw names. Or better yet: Heads of State Dirty Santa. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/32 "2009-04-03T02:59:03Z")
As a fallback, I’m willing to permit each head of state to give what the Queen routinely gives: a framed portrait of himself or herself. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/33 "2009-04-03T03:28:10Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yeah, given how fraught the whole process can be with the potential for being perceived as cheap/tacky/thoughtless/careless, and the fact that some of the recipients aren’t even legally permitted to keep the damn things, I think it’s probably time for an international treaty banning the exchange of gifts between heads of state. 😃 I’m sort of with you on this. It seems like an exchange of gifts between heads of state, these days, should be significant somehow, showing true good will and solidarity. Gone are the days when a visiting head of state offered tribute. Ask, me, though, all state-level gifts should be like the U.S. giving the Arctic exploration ship, _HMS Resolute_, after having bought it from the whaler who found and salvaged it, and lovingly restored it down to the last detail (including the positions of the personal effects of the lost British crew), back to England. There were weeks-long celebrations in the streets of London after that. Then, when the _Resolute_ was decommissioned by the English Navy, her timbers were made into the [Oval Office desk](http://thecreme.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/oval-office-resolute-desk.jpg), and given back to the U.S. Now _that’s_ gift-giving between friends and allies (and indeed cemented a lot of bonds between England and the United States). ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/34 "2009-04-03T04:37:03Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > So what’s all this about hot girl-on-girl action between Michelle and Liz? Is a 3 second sideways embrace really all that big a deal? I shudder to think what W. would have done in Michelle’s place (Grab-ass anyone?), but fortunately he was not. Did you forget W.'s [encounter](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUTwaSPcGno) with Chancellor Merkel at the G8? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/35 "2009-04-03T07:18:53Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > The queen is so teeny teeny tiny! She only comes up to Michelle’s shoulder or so. I think it’s adorable. Yes, I never realized how tiny she is. I know the Obamas are taller than average, but still . . . ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/36 "2009-04-03T13:06:34Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Yes, I never realized how tiny she is. I know the Obamas are taller than average, but still . . . She’s 5’4", hardly a midget! Clearly the Obama’s are just unnaturally tall… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/37 "2009-04-06T17:49:44Z")
Another POV: [Michelle Obama: America's new style icon knows just what to pack - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/04/06/michelle.obama.europe/index.html?iref=mpstoryview) ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271/38 "2009-04-06T19:28:55Z")
I’m not really sure that I know what you get the Queen as a gift. An Ipod seems a bit tacky, particularly when it has Obama’s own speeches and whatnot. Loading it with her appearances was pretty cool. The signed book was probably all he really needed to give. However, I did get a chuckle last week, when the EFF pointed out that they [probably broke international copyright law.](http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/first-sale-president-obama-and-queen-england) (Not a slam on Obama- The point of the article is how ridiculous copyright law has gotten) I would love to see the RIAA take on this case! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-and-mrs-obama-in-europe/491271.md?page=1)