Acting like school children

President Obama and the First Lady declined dinner with the French First Family even though they're staying at the nearby U.S. Ambassador's residence. The Obamas are there to attend tomorrow's D-Day ceremony at the U.S. cemetery above Omaha Beach. It's no secret that Obama and Sarkozy aren't close buddies as both have publicly and privately criticized each other. But to decline a host president's dinner invitation when you're literally staying next door... that's truly immature and ungracious, not to mention unstatemanlike.

And sadly it's not just with the French. America's relations with Germany is also rocky.

But President Obama sure took his time in Egypt, didn't he?

Obama's sensitive diplomacy is idiotic

President Obama is afraid that accepting a sincere invitation from French President Nicolas Sarkozy to visit Normandy would offend the Germans and British. According to the Telegraph:

"During this trip, we wanted to maintain a balance between the British, German and France". A White House spokesman in London declined to comment. Last month, White House officials briefed that a Normandy visit had been considered but it had not been logistically possible.

Mr Obama will arrive in Strasbourg on Friday for the Nato summit. He will hold a meeting with Mr Sarkozy and a brief press appearance in Strasbourg and then fly to Baden-Baden to do exactly the same with Chancellor Merkel of Germany. He will then fly to Prague on Saturday.

This is so Obama, the celebrity. He thinks the presidency is a popularity contest. Since he gave the speech at the DNC as the junior Senator of Illinois, the mainstream media has been treating him like a king, and he really does think he's a global celebrity these days. He'll do anything to stay as the most likable world leader, even at the cost of showing his unprincipled diplomacy skills to the press.

When one of America's foremost European allies invites you to visit a historic site, it's a no-brainer. If for whatever reason the invitation is to be declined, you don't say it's for the sake of being sensitive to other nations. Come on, we're all adults, we've already learned from history and understand that life isn't fair.

What would he say if America suffers another Islamist terrorist attack? Would he refrain from issuing a statement for fear of offending the millions of Muslims in the world? His views on diplomacy is amateurish at best. I sure hope he has it in his heart knowing that America is great because it's not afraid to offend.

Go Merkel, go!

British P.M. Gordon Brown plans to present a "Global New Deal" to G20 leaders, suggesting a $2 trillion stimulus to end the recession. He and President Obama can definitely be buddies, and maybe the Global New Deal ought to include efforts to remove the DVD region codes so that Brown can view those gifted movies from Obama. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel already showing some backbone to criticize Brown's plan, and there are other leaders who agree with her (e.g. Spanish finance minister Pedro Solbes).

All I can say is, "Well done, ma'am!" Maybe Merkel can talk some sense into our spending-happy President...