You could be forgiven for thinking Barack Obama is intentionally screwing the Brits. It is hard to imagine a man who claims to be so smart doing something as dumb as sending GTMO detainees to Bermuda without Bermuda’s home government’s permission.

Because you are neither the President of the United States nor the Secretary of State of the United States, you could be forgiven for thinking that reaching out to Bermuda’s Premier would be an appropriate way to deal with the Uighurs.

The President of the United States and Secretary of State, however, should know or or have advisors who know that Bermuda is “a territory under the sovereignty of the UK, which is responsible for foreign and security policy.” In other words, the Brits are, yet again, angry with Obama for ignoring them.

The Brits are already unhappy with Obama for appearing to “undermine the tough stance adopted by the West towards Tehran” on the campaign trail, in addition to Obama’s weak stance on open trade.

But it is not just the Brits. It’s also the the people of Bermuda who do not take too kindly to Obama parking the Uighurs there. In doing so, Obama is disrupting the domestic political scene in Bermuda.

It boggles the mind to think this was negligence on the part of the American diplomatic corps. Not even Bush was able to bungle foreign diplomatic relations this badly — and this comes on the heels of Obama hacking off the French after snubbing Sarkozy publicly and privately.

The only question we must ask now is, how do you like him now?

During his incredibly successful [/snark] trip to Europe last week, President Obama rejected an invitation from French president Nicolas Sarkozy to visit Normandy, France — the site of the 1944 D-Day beach landing. The reason given by the Obama administration? They didn’t want to offend the Germans by having the U.S. president visit the site where over 4,400 allied soldiers died in the operation that made victory in Europe against the evil, inhuman Nazi German regime and its allies possible.

They didn’t want to offend the Germans. Amazing. Perhaps we should next cancel all July 4 celebrations out of fear of offending the British? Or perhaps we should cancel Easter out of fear of “offending” the Romans, or cancel all 9/11 remembrances out of fear of “offending” al Qaeda terrorists, or cancel Memorial and Veterans’ days out of fear of “offending” all and sundry who have had the misfortune of throwing themselves on American bayonets over the course of our nearly-223-year history.

Sounds absurd, doesn’t it?  Absolutely — until you push a little further, and learn anew just what absurdity really is, courtesy — again — of the Obama administration:

Mr Sarkozy’s most senior aide said Mr Obama had agreed to come back in June for the 65th anniversary of the June 6th 1944, D-Day landings. A White House spokesman declined to comment on whether Mr Obama would travel to France in June.

So far, innumerable media outlets have reported that Obama will, in fact, be joining Sarkozy in Normandy on the June 6 anniversary of D-Day — but every one is citing Sarkozy and other European sources, because the Obama administration, for whatever reason, is refusing to confirm or deny whether Obama intends to honor those fallen — and those saved — by the historic D-Day operation.

It’s a simple question; the answer should be a no-brainer, and this topic should be a nonissue. Unfortunately, the indecisive and tin-eared Obama White House is, with its usual confusion, discombobulation, and ineptitude, quickly turning what should have been far less than a molehill into one heck of a forbidding mountain.

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Update: Via Jake Tapper, President Obama’s gift to the Queen was….an iPod? Wow. At least it wasn’t cheesy American region 1 DVDs…

This time it was on his visit to Great Britain — or, if you take his word for it, England, which he referred to in lieu of the nation’s proper name in a move that likely incurred the less-than-warm-and-fuzzy feelings in residents of Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland (the home of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown) that it would in residents of, say, New York, Texas, and California if a foreign leader claiming to be a citizen of the world and a bright new light in the international diplomatic scene came to America and spoke of his country’s great relationship with, say, Kentucky.

According to The Wall Street Journal’s Alistair MacDonald:

Mr. Obama’s first major foreign trip has been seen as a test not just of his leadership skills, but of his ability to navigate the protocols of diplomacy. In the U.K., that means mentioning the famous special relationship between the countries, which has been important here ever since Winston Churchill first referenced it after World War II.

On Wednesday at a joint conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mr. Obama made a pass at acknowledging the special relationship. Unfortunately, he inadvertently broke a cardinal protocol by at one stage using England to denote U.K.

“We owe so much to England; that when you come here there’s that sense of familiarity, as well as difference, that makes it just a special place,” said Obama at the joint presser.

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It was even popular in England: it was only because VHS won out in the US that it died out over there. In other words, a Betamax gift would have rocked, Iowahawk.

Sorry: it turns out that the stupid jokes that we all made about how the DVDs that Obama gave Brown were the wrong region were…

Yeah. Yeah, they were. How do we know? Because the Prime Minister actually sat down to watch ‘em, that’s how we know.

I never want to hear another single bloody word about how intellectually incurious George W Bush was.

EVER.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Ed Morrissey is dizzy with trying to figure out which would have been worse: President Obama meaning the snub to Brown and Great Britain, or that it was apparently just a by-product of the administration’s inability to run the country. Me, I’m too busy being appalled that there are supposedly functional adults in the Democratic Party that thought that saying the below would help. Read the whole thing, but only if you think that both your head and the wall will survive the pounding that you’ll be giving the latter with the former:

Barack Obama ‘too tired’ to give proper welcome to Gordon Brown
Barack Obama’s offhand approach to Gordon Brown’s Washington visit last week came about because the president was facing exhaustion over America’s economic crisis and is unable to focus on foreign affairs, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.

Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

Mr. President?

Man up.

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