Mau-Mau’d
Winston’s out of the Oval Office, out of the White House entirely, packed off to the British Embassy. UK Telegraph thinks ”We will fight them on the beaches” got Mau-mau’d.
A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W Bush from the Government’s art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.
The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush’s tenure.
But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Diplomats were at first reluctant to discuss the whereabouts of the Churchill bronze, after its ejection from the seat of American power. But the British Embassy in Washington has now confirmed that it sits in the palatial residence of ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, just down the road from Vice President Joe Biden’s official residence. It is not clear whether the ambassador plans to keep it in Washington or send it back to London.
American politicians have made quoting Churchill, whose mother was American, something of an art form, but not Mr Obama, who prefers to cite the words and works of his hero Abraham Lincoln. Indeed a bust of Mr Lincoln now sits in the Oval Office where Epstein’s Churchill once ruled the roost.
Churchill has less happy connotations for Mr Obama than those American politicians who celebrate his wartime leadership. It was during Churchill’s second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President’s grandfather.
The rejection of the bust has left some British officials nervously reading the runes to see how much influence the UK can wield with the new regime in Washington.
Now it is likely that Gordon Brown will offer a alternative symbol of Anglo-American fealty when he visits Washington to meet Mr Obama for the first time since he became President. Diplomats are still working to finalise a date for the visit which is expected in the final week of this month or early in March.
Too bad. Winston Churchill played a major role in helping save western civilization from a scourge that was distinctly anti-Hope. The British Empire, in the terms of its day, was the leading force of civilization and stability of its time and left a global legacy of education, law and government that persists, triumphant in places like India against great odds, struggling in places like Kenya. Sounds like history, as reflected by United States foreign policy, is going to be a zero sum game.
Here’s Oval Office art under Bush, includes art of the bust in question. There were a couple of Lincolns in there already. Ironic if Churchill has been broomed to make room for more Lincoln. The guy who only freed some of the slaves and also suspended habeas corpus. Messy business, history. That’s why we tend to pick and choose a little, view historic figures in the context of their time.
Otherwise, we’d have to get to work scrubbing Latin from the language, the science, the law books. Without Julius Caesar, you get none of that. And that guy Mau-Maus Churchill any day.
Brits don’t know what to do with Winston now that the new guy has sent him packing. I say keep him in the embassy, that part of the United States that is sovereign England. Somewhere prominent, where the Yanks can see him, and the Brits, too. We all may need him again before this is done.
With a nod to Riehl, who takes a thoughtful view of the snub.
In a sense I think this speaks to why Obama is often seen as having a different world view from that of previous American leaders – and most Americans, as well, actually. For better or worse, Obama has a very different individual and family history than most white and even black Americans. A part of him is only first generation American. Don’t rush to judgment on that. In a sense, our Founders hadn’t lived in “America” for generations, either. It will be interesting to see how his unique worldview jibes with that of many Americans over time.
Sorry, rushed judgment: Whether it’s the generational American half or the just-passing-through part, Obama’s shown in the past month that when it comes to people he doesn’t agree with, he’s pretty rude. I thought this was supposed to be a new reach-out era. Turns out that only applies to wretched terrorism-backing despots, homegrown socialists, etc.
Fausta, meanwhile, wants to know:
Does that mean that Obama is letting personal feelings interfere with relations with an ally?
Also notes that you can take Winston out of the White House, but the Winstons will still be there.
Protein Wisdom, cruelly, “How about a bronze of Chamberlain?”
We were told that discussion of Obama’s African Muslim family were not germane to his candidacy (notwithstanding his autobiographical treatment of them), but perhaps it ought to have been.
No. Obama promised change. America wasn’t particularly interested in the details. Turns out change includes being rude to allies and solicitous of enemies.
Got dope?
Full disclosure: if this is about Obama’s Kenyan grandad, it’s only fair I should note the involvement of numerous forebears and collateral relatives in Empire building, defense and maintenance … in a couple of instances with dire consequences in chains of command that included Churchill … in New Zealand, Australia, the Solomons, India, South Africa, the North Sea and Europe.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:46 am Comments (10) on Sunday, February 15, 2009
10 Responses to “Mau-Mau’d”
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February 15th, 2009 at 9:53 am
See, the problem Barry has with WC is that WC was just way too positive. Consider, here’s the British population being bombed by the Nazi’s on their home soil, and gave positive speeches about how the British would kick the Nazi’s a**es. When Barry is faced with the economic problems, he tells us we are all doomed.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:41 am
[...] Barry thinks little of Winston Churchill. WC probably is just too positive for The One. Jules Crittenden has the [...]
February 15th, 2009 at 11:30 am
[...] Crittenden on same. [...]
February 15th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden, Riehl World View, Fausta’s Blog, TigerHawk, NewsBusters.org, protein wisdom and Theo [...]
February 15th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Winston Churchill is also on record as saying
“There is no such thing as a good tax.
Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. ”
Clearly, President Empty Suit doesn’t want to be reminded of such prescient quotes.
February 15th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
It will be interesting to see how his unique worldview jibes with that of many Americans over time.
Well, it’s pretty clear he can carry a generational grudge.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
John Madden once said that he believed that after the lights were turned out in the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, the busts would talk to each other. Maybe it’s the same way in the White House, and Obama was afraid of what Churchill would have to about him
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender
Not exactly Obama’s kind of guy.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
That should be “have to say about him.”
February 15th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
[...] and sisters from across the pond in their “shock” are quite a few prominent (of course) right wing bloggers who just cannot believe President Obama would make such a horrible gesture to our closest [...]
February 16th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Funny how you mention India when the British actually induced a mass famine there that cost the lives of millions.
I don’t understand how anyone in their right mind can defend old-fashioned imperialism and colonialism knowing what we know today. I mean, it always implemented an exploitative economic relationship and relied on massive terror and repression in order to stay in place. Often times, it ultimately resulted in genocide against the native population. Even Churchill understood this: