Obama Administration's Foreign Policy Gaffes

This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," March 9, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GLENN BECK, HOST: Let me tell you about the Obama administration and what they've done with Great Britain. Have you noticed that they come across either ignorant or arrogant when it comes to foreign policy, especially?

Take two recent examples that the mainstream media has either ignored or treated as a joke but not, you know, like a really loud joke that you'd put on TV or anything.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown came into the U.S. He gave President Obama several unique and priceless historical gifts based on the special relationship between the two countries. This is long-standing tradition. This happens all the time.

Brown gave President Obama a couple of things. One was a pen holder fashioned from the HMS Gannet. It is an anti-slavery ship. He then gave a framed commissioning paper from the HMS Resolute, which is the resolute desk in the Oval Office, the sister ship also of the Gannet. And then he also gave a first edition biography of Winston Churchill.

• Video: Watch Glenn's segment

In exchange, President Obama gave Prime Minister Brown 25 classic American DVDs. Yes — I mean, he got that down. He can't even play them because he didn't get the ones that, you know, you can play over in England, because DVDs are printed differently in different regions so he can't even watch them.

And if that weren't enough of a diss to our greatest ally, Great Britain, Obama also gave back a bust of Winston Churchill, which was given to us on 9/11 as a symbol of unity. He said, "No, go ahead. Take it back." I mean, like, "No, no. Seriously, let it stay here in America. You can put it in a museum." "No, no, take it." You've got to be kidding me, right?

Meanwhile, in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave Russia what was supposed to be a reset button indicating that we were resetting ties between the two countries. How can we get more friendly with Russia, you know, than saying I looked into his eyes and I just think he's dreamy.

What? But instead, the button didn't say "reset." It goes slightly different Russian word. It translated to "overcharged." You've got to be kidding me.

There are people in the State Department whose sole job is to make sure these things don't happen. Are they sleeping? Or somebody — you know, maybe they call, "Hey, you guys, you kind of suck right now. Can you help us out?" Maybe it's just me.

You know, maybe it's that Obama is ignoring these people, you know, for some reason or another. I don't know. I don't know. How could you mess up this bad? How can you take our greatest ally, and be, like, "I just got you some movies?" You know what I'm saying? Maybe it's just me.

Let's go find somebody who is actually talking about this and has actually done this job. We have Nile Gardiner with us. Nile is the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation. Hello, Nile. How are you?

NILE GARDINER, DIRECTOR, MARGARET THATCHER FOUNDATION: Fine, thanks, Glenn. How are you doing?

BECK: Well, I'm frustrated, because it's remarkable to me that President Obama just kind of like went to the video store and just got some videos. You know, it is almost, like — Nile, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't these gifts supposed to represent something meaningful to the person and kind of be like one of our big resources or, you know, something that's really important from our country? Isn't that the point?

GARDINER: Exactly. These gifts are symbolically very important. A huge amount of thought and detail usually goes into the traditional exchange of gifts between the American and British prime ministers.

BECK: Right.

GARDINER: And we — in this case, we have Gordon Brown bringing over gifts that are extremely valuable, gifts that have tremendous historical significance, and in return, the American president gives 25 DVDs, including DVDs such as "ET" and "Psycho" and "The Wizard of Oz."

BECK: Oh, that was a good movie. Which of them —

GARDINER: A British news pro describes it as exciting as a pair of old socks.

BECK: Let me ask you this. Was he saying basically, "Hey, the best thing we got going for America is — we've got the movies." I mean, he's almost holding up Hollywood in this. If you look at these gifts traditionally speaking, it is something about our heritage.

And what he's saying is, "Hey we got these in Wal-Mart on sale and Hollywood is great," right? I mean, what is the point of this gift?

GARDINER: It sends an extremely rude message to not only the British prime minister, but also the British people. It sends a message from the White House, "We don't care. Even though you may be America's closest allies, we're going to give you 25 DVDs in return."

Not only that, of course. They canceled a joint press conference between Brown and Obama. They denied the British prime minister an official state dinner. These are all usually held with these kinds of major events. They treated the British prime minister as though he was some sort of third-world, tin pot dictator.

BECK: But it gets —

GARDINER: This is really amateur hour the White House.

BECK: Oh, it is beyond that. You know what? I have been reading the papers over in London. And they think — I mean, they're calling the first lady Obama Lady Macbeth. I mean, it's really, truly amazing. Oh, there's Lady Macbeth.

It is truly amazing how much we have insulted them. And then, this weekend, in the London's "Daily Telegraph" — do we happen to have the words? I'm trying to remember from the top of my head. They said basically — an unidentified State Department official said in a newspaper report over in London, "Look, you guys aren't any different than the 160 other countries we have to meet."

What? This is our biggest ally. Why would we be doing this unless — I mean, is it just incompetence or is this president trying to send Great Britain a message?

GARDINER: I think it is not only incompetence. I think that it's a reflection of the fact that this new administration doesn't really hold the Anglo-American special relationship in high regard. It doesn't have a significant understanding of the historical ties between the two nations.

And you mentioned here the State Department official who was rude and insulting about the British nation. This particular official interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph of London was absolutely furious when questioned over the handling of the Brown visit, and said that Britain is not special at all. Britain is no more important than any other of the 190 members of the United Nations.

This is an appalling message to send to America's closest ally at a time when there are thousands of British soldiers fighting alongside their American counterparts on the battlefields of Afghanistan, that time when Britain has taken very heavy casualties when the rest of the Europe is sitting on the sidelines.

This new administration owes the British a real apology ...

BECK: An apology. They're not going to get one.

GARDINER: ... for the rudeness and its complete lack of tact here.

BECK: Yes. But they're not going to get one. And that's — I mean, here we are. It's Great Britain. We're sisters, you know. We are sister countries. I mean, we came from the same place. They have been by our side — I mean, sure, we hated them for a while, but they were making us wear short pants and drink tea.

So we hated them for a while but we got over that. Now, they are our greatest allies. What are we doing? Listen, America, here's the thing — Nile, thank you very much, I appreciate your time.

GARDINER: Thank you.

BECK: Here is what I want to ask you. Great Britain — if we lose Great Britain, what the heck do we have? It's like — and by the way, Canada — hello?

If you would like to apologize to Great Britain — not apologize, just say, "Great Britain, we don't know what that guy was doing. We love you. Please — thank you for everything you do."

I want to give the address. Do we have full screen? Yes, here it is. Send your letters to:

British Embassy
3100 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008

Please send them a message that they don't suck, we appreciate them. I would make it more flowery than that, but that's just me.

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