RONALD REAGAN WAS TWENTY-SOMETHING YEARS OLDER, NO?:

British press watching Rudd-Obama visit (Mark Simkin, March 24, 2009, ABC News au)

Kevin Rudd has touched down in Washington to meet with the new US President, Barack Obama, but what sort of reception will he get? The Prime Minister should not get his hopes up, given the way British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was treated at the White House, reports Washington correspondent Mark Simkin for AM.

British reporters are furious at a series of perceived snubs, including a so-called "gift gaffe", during Mr Brown's visit to Washington last month, and say they will be watching Mr Rudd's meeting with Mr Obama closely.

The rumbling began before Mr Brown's visit when Mr Obama removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office. [...]

Three weeks later, Mr Rudd is about to visit the White House and Tim Shipman, a Washington-based correspondent with the Telegraph, says the British press will be watching closely.

"I hear from White House sources that President Obama is very busy at the moment, obviously with the economic meltdown. He is personally quite tired but that only goes to show that you only have a new guy in town who is not used to jumping through some of these diplomatic hoops," Shipman said.

Yet the elderly Gipper managed to treat our allies with the respect they're due.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 23, 2009 8:13 PM