As the world bids farewell to Lady Margaret Thatcher today, it’s hard not to notice that America’s official presence at the state funeral for England’s most significant prime minister since Winston Churchill will be underwhelming.
Instead of sending a high-ranking member of his own administration to lead the official delegation, President Obama has dispatched two former Republican secretaries of state, George Shultz and Jim Baker. Nothing against these men, but we can forgive the British for regarding Obama’s choice as yet another snub.
Suspicions will only be compounded by the ungracious action in the Senate, where Bob Menendez held up passage of what should have been a routine resolution honoring the Iron Lady. It appears the language praising Thatcher was too much for the New Jersey Democrat.
These aren’t the first awkward moments with Britain on Obama’s watch. There was the removal of the Churchill bust from the Oval Office; the iPod of Obama speeches given the queen and the 25 DVDs bestowed on Gordon Brown after the then-prime minister had given Obama a carefully chosen pen set crafted from the timbers of a British naval ship that had served on anti-slavery missions off Africa.
What makes Washington’s little acts of thoughtlessness so telling is that they attract more attention than doing the right thing would. The Senate resolution would’ve gone unnoticed had not Menendez held it up; ditto for the funeral if Obama had simply sent someone from his own team.
Newspapers in Britain say friends and allies of Lady Thatcher have expressed their “surprise and disappointment.” So do we.