Sorry, U.K.! He's New.

Here in the States (probably works the same everywhere) whenever you receive utterly, horrendously, egregiously bad service, the purveyor is usually new at the job. A humble, "Sorry. I'm new," is usually all it takes to explain the situation. Quite often, an experienced coworker cleans up the mess, and deals with the problem. It's all just part of learning the ropes.

Of course, when a newbie can't seem to get the hang of it, they are usually invited to find other employment.

Our new president is entirely inexperienced at international politics. When, for example, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom comes to visit, the President usually does a few things to show a warm official welcome to a major ally. President Obama handed back the Churchill bust, and gave Brown a classic movie boxed DVD set...that didn't work. And now, on his first official state visit to Britain, he presents the queen with...an iPod. Oh, it was an iPod worthy of a queen. It had 40 Broadway musical showtunes on it. Perhaps Andrew will like it.

Okay, GB, so our newly elected president seems to be a blithering idiot when it comes to showing courtesy to major allies. The thing is, he wasn't hired on a probationary basis. We can't just kick him out. We'll have another election in three and a half years, and if he hasn't improved by then, well...honestly, the Democrat party will find some new scandal to blame on Republicans, causing the majority of us to forget the last three and a half years. It's called "wag the dog" and it worked great for Clinton. Short of declaring war on England, Obama has a pretty secure job.

Don't be too critical of the U.S. as a whole, though. During the November election, we heard a lot of adulation for Obama coming from your side of the pond! So, how do you like him now???

Most of the people in the U.S. feel warmly about the U.K. We have always enjoyed our relationship with you since we got that "colony" thing sorted. It's ancient history. Almost anyone else, in this country, would have gotten Brown and QE2 far better gifts than cheap electronic crap.

Perhaps a nice pen.