BRITS SNAP BACK - AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  The Brits have begun to fight back against the extraordinary attack on the British press by Robert Gibbs, White House news secretary.  (See our post here.)

Nile Gardiner, British conservative and a very good, pro-American guy, comments in The Telegraph:

This kind of attack would normally be made against the likes of the North Korean or Iranian state media, but in the current climate of "engagement" with America's enemies the White House is far more likely to attack its own allies. Gibbs' remarks have echoes of a senior State Department official's anti-British statements to The Sunday Telegraph after the appalling handling of the Prime Minister's visit in March.

Right on, Nile!

The British press, especially the Telegraph, has been singled out because they frequently publish articles critical of the Obama administration and are not afraid to take on the status quo in Washington. Increasingly, millions of Americans are turning to online UK news websites for cutting edge reports on American politics and U.S. foreign policy that the mainstream media refuses to cover in the States, especially if it is unflattering to the Obama White House.

Correct.  Urgent Agenda readers may recall that we've made that same point here over and over.  We turn to the British press for reporting we can't get in the politically correct press of our own country.

For all its talk of "raising America's standing" in the world after the Bush years, the Obama administration is doing a spectacularly bad job of reaching out to its allies. Unfortunately this is the new face of America's public diplomacy, which will only serve to alienate public opinion across the Atlantic. Congratulations Gibbs - you've just made an enemy out of the entire British media, quite an achievement for the man in charge of selling the President's message.

Let's see if this controversy gets any coverage at all in our mainstream press, or if they just "move on," which is what passes for press strategy these days. 

The behavior toward Britain, and things British, by this administration has been extraordinary.  A major story and a major example of the mentality of
The One's regime.

May 30, 2009