President Obama is such a moving orator, it’s even garnered him the title of potential Antichrist.
But Barack may still have his awkward moments around royalty. During the president’s toast to the Queen at Buckingham Palace this week, the orchestra misunderstood a cue and began playing the national anthem, cutting him off in the middle of his toast even though he was not quite done reading his 3×5 cards.
Obama should have just zipped it though, because even Pippa Middleton knows it’s uncouth to talk while the national anthem is playing. When he finally finished, all the guest (the Queen included) just stood there awkwardly, waiting for the orchestra to finish. The longest pregnant pause since Sarah Palin found out she was going to be a grandmother.
Still, it’s could have been worse — at least it wasn’t a flubbed toast to a drag queen. One wrong cue at a drag show and bitches will cut you.
via our buddy Joe
Kieran
President Obama seemed much more at home giving a rousing speech to 60,000 cheering Irish at the College Green in Dublin:
Watch it here:
http://youtu.be/ngwyKsUg9Ms
dazzer
Can’t see that it is a major problem or breach of protocol. The one thing that is noticeable when the Obamas and the Windsors interact is that there seems to be a massive amount of personal warmth. You should see her face with some other world leaders – she has a face like the wrath of God. But with the Obamas she’s always genuinely smiling.
The band-leader will probably get a bollocking, though.
Armand
Obama is an imbecile and puts Americans to shame. Remember the time Obama bowed to the groin level of the Saudi King?
And Obama’s toast was a mere paragraph!?
Where was his immaculate teleprompters?
Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England)
@Kieran:
Exactly.
Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England)
@Armand:
Exactly.
Even Dubya was so much better.
An Reagan.
I hark back to the good old days!!
Armand
To the Europeans: you can have Obama once America has elections in 2012.
Armand
@Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England): Your ad hominem was missed.
I voted Independent.
Ta ta darling.
Luke
Why is this Obama’s awkward toast and not the orchestra’s big fuck up? It might be uncouth to talk while the National Anthem plays, but what is it to “play off” the President of the United States?
Brian
It was the conductor’s fault…not the Presidents. And I agree…seems like the Queen really enjoys being around him.
Mike in Asheville
@Armand: Imbecile, really? And what does that make of the minions he beat to become POTUS?
*********
Don’t like Obama, fine; I HATED Bush. But you, Armand, only make yourself look petty and moronic. Obama is hardly an imbecile.
Mike in Asheville
@Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England): Hmmm, “Rightwingers are sociopaths” claiming that Bush and Reagan were much better?
Well, in some areas you are right: Bush was possibly the best presidential liar of all time, as in, “we know where the weapons of mass destruction are being hidden in Iraq so lets have a war to prove it.” “Iraq was a partner in 9/11.” “Mission Accomplished”
Reagan: HIV/AIDS: Don’t say anything, let the fags all die.
Yeah, those two are soooo much better…stay in England.
Bill
@dazzer: Dems have no sense of humor. I LMAO. If George w Bush did that the tv would be alive with Dems saying how stupid it was. The pres isn’t stupid he is dopey funny.
Bill
@Mike in Asheville: Come on man. Bush NEVER NEVER said he knew where the wmd’s are. You liberals are shameless
Bill
@Mike in Asheville: I do have to say Obama told us libya would be over in days not weeks or months. He is such a liar. Look what he promised you lefties and did not come thru. Gitmo anyone???
Bill
@Mike in Asheville: no he is fairly smart but boy does he lie. Gitmo election promises and the big lie about health care. What a bumbling fool
Armand
@Mike in Asheville: You can dry hump Bush’s leg all day. Ask someone else to defend him.
Obama is an imbecile.
What’s that you say–stay in England? You mean that forsaken island that’s overrun by political correctness, increasing Islamic ghettos (with hate crimes against gahyz), and sharia courts?
England is sinking. God save the Queen.
Viktor
LOL This is pretty funny!
Jeffree
The conductor should be sacked and only allowed to perform at Princess Beatrice’s next birthday shindig.
Obama’s protocol person should have informed him of what to do in case of premature orchestration: curtsy & mouth the words.
QEII (the person, not the ship) seems markedly happier to speak with BHO than GWB, probably because O’s command of American English is 9.3 times better than W’s.
[A little known fact is that Bush Jr.s Texan dialect stumped all the Queen’s foreign language interpreters, so she was forced to rely on a voice-activated Google translator to communicate with him.]
jk
robert in NYC
No. 14, Bill, less you forget, Donal Rumsfeld said the war in Iraq would be over in 6 months!
No. 16, Armand…really, England sinking? You know nothing about the UK. When did you live there? Sharia law is NOT part of the British legal system and is only applied in certain civil cases concerning muslims within their own community. British muslims, both native and foreign born, are subject to every law in the UK and are NOT exempt from or above it.
People choose to ghettoize themselves. There are many British muslims who are westernized and very sucessfully assimilated. The UK is hardly sinking, far from it. In fact, they’re sailing far ahead of us in terms of equality and other social issues. Marriage equality consultation is soon to start in July under a Conservative goverment no less, and its quite probable, the UK will get marriage equality long before the U.S. What has America done lately? You seem to imply there is no political correctness in the U.S. (where it all started I might add) that there are no home-grown terrorists which is at odds with the Department of Homeland Security’s stance.
Armand
@robert in NYC: I’ve lived in the UK for 10 years.
Sharia courts in the UK are a joke. It’s special treatment to a group. The law should be universal to all groups. If a group joins a society, they should follow and accept the laws of the land.
The UK lost its spine for the good of “multiculturalism” and accepts these kangaroo courts aka sharia courts for Muslims.
Perhaps there needs to be a separate court system for gay Queens?
There are British Muslims who are westernized and successful but they are secular; culturally Muslim but do not practice Islam fully.
The increasing rate of Muslim ghettos in the UK is problematic. So much so, that some are not visited by state officials, police, and the health department. The Muslims inhabiting the ghettos choose not to assimilate to UK society. The sad part is people like you celebrate their eagerness to retain their barbaric and crude culture, under the flag of tolerance and multiculturalism.
This is cultural suicide.
It’s too bad Orwell is not around to see the despicable state the UK is in.
Oh, and the UK spearheading equal rights for gays? Girl please. Does it really matter if the UK gets marriage quality before the US? We already have marriage equality. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the states follow.
Armand
The UK is suffering from political correctness.
Take the recent case of Andrew Ryan put in prison for 70 days due to his burning of a Koran (Islam’s holy book).
Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-13119241
Funny. If Ryan burned a bible, the UK court system would do nothing but turn the other cheek.
CJ
He obviously didn’t know what he was doing.
1. He makes a HUGE pause after saying, “To her majesty the Queen.” That is enough reason for the orchestra to start playing – let alone that this is how you are to FINISH your toast, not start it!!
2. He then lifts his glass DURING the anthem – trying to finish his toast while the anthem is still playing. I think that everyone else knew the rules of protocol except for him. (Look around at the others)
3. Being so nervous, he doesn’t even take a drink when the Queen doesn’t take a drink. HELLO, that is her choice. Everyone else around him took a drink. So, he didn’t know what to do.
He doesn’t know what he is doing in any area of government or politics. Newbie – STILL.
Robert in NYC
Armand, I’m a British citizen with dual nationality and frequently commute back and forth to the UK so I’m FULLY aware of what is going on as well as Sharia courts for the muslim community which do NOT dispense or administer criminal law. British muslims are also obliged to obey British law which supercede their own.
When you say..”we already have marriage equality”, which country are you referring to? If its the U.S. it only has quasi marriage equality in five states out of 50 and in the district of Washington, DC. American gay married couples in those states and district respectively, do NOT enjoy full marriage equality since they are not entitled to 1138 rights at the federal level nor are they recognized as such. They are only portable in three other states other than their own, while 8 other states have either civil unions or domestic partnerships, again, no federal recognition or benefits provided.
British civil partnerships mimic marriage in almost every way with the exceptions of pension retroactivity that differ between straight and gay couples, as well as straight divorce which in the case of a civil partnerships is handled through dissolution of the registration. Nor are there any mandatory vows or exchange of rings in the latter union. In every other aspect they are identical to civil marriage but are not marriages under the current 1973 Marriage Causes Act. It doesn’t matter if the UK gets full marriage equality ahead of the U.S., nobody is saying that it does, but at least Britain’s government is going to do something about it, whereas its quite a different process in the U.S., a state by state issue. 31 of them currently ban same-sex couples marrying. The federal government isn’t involved at this stage and as far as the Supreme Court mandating full marriage equality across the U.S., remember, there are 9 judges comprising 5 staunch catholic judges plus 1 other, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, arguably a liberal judge, plus 3 Jewish judges. I doubt if 5 would rule in favor of same-sex marriage at the federal level, unless more than half of the states had already legalized it.