[Macworld]

Post your comments for President Obama gives iPod to Queen of England here

[Photonerd]

Now that's diplomacy!

[ronincali3002]

Glad to see Obama is actually stimulating the American and Chinese economies (with his own money, hopefully), while fostering goodwill.

[natmusak]

Now if only he'd switch over from the BlackBerry to an iPhone. :D Maybe the one this summer will (though I swore I've seen pictures of him using an iPhone).
Hopefully it's an iPod touch so the Queen can finally get on Twitter.

[leicaman]

Macworld said:

hear that Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin does the exact same thing.

Vladimir Putin gives out a silver-framed portraits of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh?

I wonder if the president thought to put the song "Duke of Earl" on the iPod?
Message was edited by: leicaman

[macFanDave]

>the Queen, in return, gave him a signed, silver-framed photograph of her and the Duke of Edinburgh, the same gift she reputedly gives all her other important visitors—we hear that Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin does the exact same thing.

Why would Vladimir Putin give visitors a picture of the Queen of England?

Anyways, I'll admit Barack got spanked in the "gift-off" when British PM Gordon Brown and his family came over, but this time the Obama's pwned The Queen! FTW!

I heard that when both Bush and Cheney traveled, they always brought the same gift: a waterboard.

[oxygenhose]

I see "The 0.1" puts as much thought into the gifts as he does the major policy decisions. I guess the world is at peace now that the Queen of England has another iPod to look at herself on.
Expensive too - 3.2 trillion is alot for a few DVDs and an iPod.
We don't seem to be getting anything else out of it - well maybe some better lighting at press conferences and lot's of 'um's' when losing place on his script. I think it works out to something like $27,000,000 per 'um', but I'm sure that figure will come down as he scales up production.
*- What's the alternative to waterboards? Asking nicely? Reaffirming feelings of inadequacy? Tossing a tear gas canister into a cell? Oh nevermind that might damage "Mother Earth" then she would smite us all!
Nevermind - I'm sure the answer hinges heavily on some progressive geo-political hurt feelings from some US/Israel conspiracy. Or was it that guy Bush? Sigh. -*

[sporks]

And the national embarrassment continues. Our president gives gifts that you can pop down to the local mall and buy. Obama's gifts smack of some boss yelling at his secretary: "It's my wife's birthday today, go buy her something and put my name on it."

[sporks]

oxygenhose said:

*- What's the alternative to waterboards? Asking nicely? Reaffirming feelings of inadequacy? Tossing a tear gas canister into a cell? Oh nevermind that might damage "Mother Earth" then she would smite us all!

Actually, I kind of liked the Barry Manilow and Slim Whitman music played over the loud speakers 24x7. It was torture with a touch of poetry to it.

Although, I must admit that waterboarding seemed to be really effective at getting terrorists to suddenly have dreams of Allah telling them it was OK to talk to the Great Satan.

[rccoffeemac]

Oh no! Her Majesty was hoping....for.....a...Zune....in chocolate brown.

[Cormac]

At least she doesn't have to worry about Region 1 vs. Region 2 DVDs.

[daijones]

There is no "Queen of England". There's a Queen of the United Kingdom, which includes England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The clue is in the title: "United". There's only one crown, and it applies to the nation as a whole and not to individual countries within it. As it happens she's also separately Queen of 15 other commonwealth realms, so you could reasonably call her "Queen of Australia" or "Queen of Canada". One thing she should not be called, to reiterate, is Queen of England.

[mslavick]

Actually, if you knew what you were talking about (and obviously you don't), you would know that the Queen was already the owner of an iPod nano, and has been for a few years now. I suppose he could give her a shoulder rub like our previous president used to enjoy giving to other female heads-of-state. But I guess that's not as embarrassing as an iPod.

[sporks]

daijones said:

There is no "Queen of England". There's a Queen of the United Kingdom, which includes England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The clue is in the title: "United". There's only one crown, and it applies to the nation as a whole and not to individual countries within it. As it happens she's also separately Queen of 15 other commonwealth realms, so you could reasonably call her "Queen of Australia" or "Queen of Canada". One thing she should not be called, to reiterate, is Queen of England.

Well to be pedantic, the Queen of the United Kingdom is also the Queen of England, since England is part of the United Kingdom. If you really want to get pedantic, she was also princess of Wales, since that was a concession made to Wales when the UK was forming some centuries ago, that the King of Wales would become the Prince of Wales and be first in line to the throne of the United Kingdom.