Still more diplomatic gaffes

Last updated on: April 2, 2009 at 5:15 am

April 2, 2009 by Gene Veith

So the Obamas met the Queen of England and gave her an iPod. She already has one. (UPDATE: And the iPod is loaded with his speeches!)

The White House issued a briefing book to reporters that talks about how England is “slightly smaller than Oregon” and how it has declined from its former greatness.

Hillary Clinton went to Mexico and visited the Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which displays an image of the Virgin Mary that Mexican Catholics believe was miraculously imprinted when Mary appeared to an Indian boy who gathered roses for her in his serape. The Secretary of State asked the archibishop who painted the picture! The archbishop told her, “God!”

Many Americans–not just of this administration–really do have no sense of history or culture, thinking that the iPod and Hollywood movies (the President’s earlier diplomatic gift to the British government) are the apex of American civilization. Even Social Democrats in Europe at least have a sense of history. And illiteracy about other cultures is, ironically, exacerbated by multi-cultural education, which condescendingly contents itself with showing noble savages oppressed by Western imperialists, with little time devoted to what the actual cultures are all about, such as their religions. Thus, Mrs. Clinton and her briefers at the Latin America desk do not know about the Legend of Guadalupe.

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