AND IT ISN'T ONLY NORWAY (SEE STORY JUST BELOW) - AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  When this president snubs, he goes all out.  And if you want to show that you can snub an ally, the obvious big-time choice is Britain.  You get extra credit on the left, and all that. 

Since his first day in office, President Obama has gone out of his way to snub Britain.  Silvio Canto Jr., on whose radio show I often appear, alerts us to a piece by Nile Gardiner, in London's Daily Mail, on the damage done by Obama's immature behavior:

Last week, when President Obama got to his feet at the U.S. Military Academy to outline his administration's plans for America's future in Afghanistan, one subject was conspicuous by its total absence from his 40-minute speech.

For while he made much of the surge in troop numbers and the controversial phased withdrawal planned for 18 months' time, there wasn't a single mention of America's main ally in the region, Britain.

It's typical.  This is the least gracious administration in memory.  Example:  This president spends a disturbing amount of his time attacking President Bush, and blaming him for everything, including the weather.

Never mind that we have 10,000 troops on active service there - far more than any other of America's so-called allies - and never mind that 237 of our brave soldiers have already lost their lives there, Great Britain wasn't even a footnote.

Given the level of sacrifice by British troops, it was the most extraordinary and insulting oversight...

...The only conclusion that can be drawn is that while the special relationship may not be dead yet, it's certainly dying, a fact that should be enormously worrying to politicians - and voters - on both sides of the Atlantic.

Once again a British writer nails Obama better than his American counterparts:

We cannot say, however, that we weren't warned.

This, after all, is a man who, within days of being sworn in as President, ordered that a bust of Winston Churchill - a gift from the British people to the U.S. in the dark days that followed 9/11 - be removed from the Oval Office...

...Nor have things improved since, with Obama apparently keener on sitting down with President Ahmadinejad of Iran, or cosying up to his new friends in France or Germany than he is on spending time with the Prime Minister. Indeed, he singularly failed to do just that when both men were in New York in September for the United Nations' General Assembly.

Once again, Obama's refusal to grasp that opportunity to stress the special relationship was seen as an insult to Britain.

Britain, meet Norway, and Israel, and Canada, and...

One of the greatest forces for good, liberty and freedom - not to mention the defence of the free world - is in very real danger of being banished to the history books for ever.

Obama, however, seems to be a president with no real grasp of history, as one of his first major acts on gaining office showed.

By withdrawing plans for a missile shield to be located in Eastern Europe, he not only appeased the Russians, he also betrayed the Poles and the Czechs, people who have only just been released from the yoke of Soviet control and have since become enthusiastic and valuable Western allies.

But he's such an intellectual, isn't he?  I mean, he lived in Hyde Park, in Chicago, where the leftist intellectuals meet.

Maybe that's the problem.

Obama must be made to realise what a dangerous diplomatic game he is playing. Time and again, history has shown - most recently, of course, in Iraq and Afghanistan - that when it comes to taking decisive military action, the only country the U.S. has ever been able to rely on is Britain.

When the U.S. marches in, it's only ever the British who can be depended on to march alongside them.

Well, let's add Australia and Canada, two other countries he's snubbed.

Britain needs America - of that there is no doubt. But recent history shows that America needs Britain, too. Barack Obama needs to wake up to that; before it's too late.

COMMENT:  He will not wake up.  Snubbing our allies is in his DNA.  It's part of his world view.  There is a reason why his popularity is plunging.  The American people are catching on that, while Barack Obama is president of us, he is not of us.

December 9, 2009