Post by Ryan Maue:
The British media continues to mock and criticize the President, which has been petty and unfair in some respects. But how do we reconcile this? From the UK Telegraph
Barack Obama snubs British scientists by refusing to receive Royal Society medal
Barack Obama has snubbed Britain’s most eminent scientists by refusing to attend a Royal Society banquet in his honour at which he was to be awarded with a prestigious medal.
Quoting from the UK Telegraph (fair use for discussion and future reference disclaimer):
But Mr Obama’s aides responded to the invitation with a “very short” note in which they said the president would rather spend time at a south London state school. Mr Obama visited The Globe Academy in Southwark with David Cameron, the Prime Minister, on Tuesday. The two leaders swapped a number of high-fives with pupils before rolling up their sleeves for a game of table tennis against two schoolboys.
And the cherry on top of this sundae:
Had Mr Obama accepted the invitation, he would have been greeted by Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, who won a Nobel prize in 2001 for advances in genetics and cell biology.
Instead he met pupils at the Globe Academy who had won an award for designing a lunchbox which folds out into a plate.
The UK MSM have their own agenda and I can assure you that their attitude is not a reflection of the PEOPLE of the UK.
Obama’s stock just went up a smidgen in my book.
Anything is possible says:
May 26, 2011 at 10:37 am
The lunch-box folding out into a plate works for me too. Simple, ingenious and cost-efficient.
Science at its’ best.
But things don’t roll off a lunchbox, much better than a plate. They should have invented a plate that converts to a lunchbox.
The Royal Society wanted to beclown itself. The O was merely helpful.
Recall that Obama also snubbed the King of Norway after picking up his Nobel Prize ‘bling’ and also snubbed dinner invitations with Sarkozy et ux and later with Chancellor Merkel.
I’m guessing that he would have accepted an invitation to the Royal Wedding. It’s not as boring to him as science and Michelle would have made him go. But given his treatment of others, it is no surprise to me that he and Michelle were not on the guest list.
When does he get his Academy Award and his Pulitzer Prize and Medal of Honor?
Well… I guess it all boils down to… “whatsfordinnerversuswhatsforlunch”!
Curiousgeorge says:
May 26, 2011 at 11:23 am
You may find this piece interesting. Dr. Sanity is a psychiatrist who has blogged extensively on the role psychiatric dysfunction in politics.
http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2011/05/political-left-and-seven-deadly-sins-of.html
As to this
“If he had gone for the Royal Society shindig, he would not have been the “smartest guy in the room”, and his ego would have had a meltdown. Much better to go someplace where he is the smartest guy in the room.”
Despite all the ballyhoo about his supposed brilliance, from all the actual examples of his intellectual superiority that he has shown in his life( i. e. none) I’d say the only way he could be assured of being “the smartest guy in the room” would be to make sure he was entirely alone.
I don’t care what O’bama does when he’s overseas, same as his excessive golfing. At least he’s not in DC f’ing up this country.
So Obama would rather cavort with flat-platers than hot-globers? I’d say that’s a respectable decision considering everything he’s encountered on this trip so far.
Gee, a prize for re-inventing a McDonald’s take-out container in another shape or material? Sounds like a patent violation.
And I can’t help but wonder if the fact that this Academy appears to be composed only of black students had anything to do with the staging of the picture – or Obama’s visit there.
The climate thing was very conspicuous by it’s absence, and not even included in the Queens speech, not even when refering to the hard tasks ahead for the UK and USA. Anyone know what is going on?
I don’t feel sorry for the ruling class scientists who were trying to use the US president to boost their own prestige. I don’t care to see Obama or Cameron use students to boost their standing either, but I bet those kids got a real kick out of it, so I’m happy for them.
Yet they want us to take the climate scientists’ ‘word for it’.
Well done Obama! I guess he had had enough of all the pomp and ceremony. ;O)
Or in an Alternate Universe…
Obama Snubs School Children and UK’s Prime Minister
Instead he chose to visit the alarmist and elitist members of the Royal Society, tempted with the offer of another medal which he didn’t earn, and as a the narcissist in chief, could simply not resist.
Read the second line at the top of this page.
The lunchbox is a little puzzling and the Obama snub is recent news.
I think it’s more a reflection of how badly the Society has devalued itself with cheap and unprofessional ‘mainstreamism’. I’m sure they still see themselves as the inheritors of Newton , Boyle and other giants, whereas their antics have made them an irrelevance in the eyes of the masses (whether or not they buy into the AGW scare).
Rather than thinking ‘wow – an award from the RS’, I’m sure he/they thought ‘who?’.
It’s actually sad to see what they have done to the institution. I feel the same way about NASA. The way they are going they will be an irrelevance to the next generation.
We have been told that the British people were all for “I AM the ONE who will cause the oceans to recede and the Earth to begin to heal”. At least, that’s what the so called main stream media told us prior to the ’08 election. Considering the source, it may be true-or not.
It appears that the British got what they asked for. To “HE whose MIDDLE NAME cannot be spoken”, their country is just another stop between Argentina and Zimbabwe, and certainly a full step below Venezuela and Kenya. HE has said that Great Britain is nothing special. HE will bow down to the King of Saudi Arabia, but to the Queen of Great Britain? I don’t think so!
I am amused by the Brits’ whining.
(PS: IF I spoke HIS MIDDLE NAME, some would call for my stoning as a racist bigot and that would hurt my feelings. Especially if they DID stone me, just like in the old days. It is far, far better to leave HIS MIDDLE NAME unspoken.)
Regards,
Steamboat Jack (Jon Jewett’s evil twin)
1. There are those of us who theorize that the content of WUWT is driven more by ideology and partisan thinking than by rational, unbiased analysis of data and scientific theories. I view this post & commentary as evidence in support of that theory.
2. Re: ryanm’s response “how in the world is this offtopic?”- The prior post was about the conduct of science. This post is a pot-shot at the President’s scheduling priorities. Although both mention Sir Paul Nurse, the similarities end there.
3. Finally, I’m betting there aren’t a lot of Steven Chu fans in the crowd, but I’d argue that his appointment as Sec. of Energy doesn’t foot with the “Obama holds scientists in low esteem” narrative.
[ryanm: not interested in blog police. this post isn’t partisan]
Dave Wendt
He’d be pretty safe with the Cleggerons & (Buff)Huhne present too.
DaveE.
I’m sure that Obama and his advisers could see the headlines:
“Obama receives prestigious science medal. Obama won’t release grades from college or law school.”
Obama didn’t need anymore bad press. And lets face it. The only thing I know that Obama has done to advance science, if you can call it that, is to praise all of the contributions that Muslims have made to the advancement of human knowledge.
@ur momisugly Dave Wendt says:
May 26, 2011 at 12:16 pm
I’d say the only way he could be assured of being “the smartest guy in the room” would be to make sure he was entirely alone.
I wouldn’t go quite that far, but it’s obvious that he has some serious overcompensation issues as a result of low self – esteem. It shows up occasionally, in unintended public moments of bullying ( ” Elections have consequences “, etc. ). He would no doubt welcome being named “Emperor of Earth”.
He’s a very scary guy, and it would be a mistake to underestimate the depth of his self-deception, his deviousness, and ruthlessness. History is replete with examples of such unbridled lust for power. Nearly always justified by claiming that it’s all in the best of interests of “his” people, even when the atrocities begin.
Thanks for the link, btw. 🙂
Smart political choice! It is better to support young peoples having news and good ideas (because that is future) than hold scientists having noting else to do but to repeat the same song already known in their field.
“Great Britian is the island right? The United Kingdom is the nation?”
Actually, England, Wales, and Scotland are all nations. The UK is a sovereign state, also known as a country, which contains those nations. I don’t think there are seven countries playing in the Seven Nations Rugby tournament, but I could be wrong. Of course these words have been slopped around so much as to be meaningless, but before “unification,” Scotland, for example, was a “nation state.”
Sorry. Curmudgeonliness overcame me there for a minute.
Something tells me that BCC is an Obama voter.
Did they forget to bus the white kids in ?
Oh wait!! It’s Saarf Landon innit.