Academic

?SMART DIPLOMACY:? Obama snubs King. A day before President Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize?

By Glenn Reynolds

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Obama snubs King.

A day before President Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, the president?s treatment of his Norwegian hosts has become hot news across Scandinavia.

News outlets across the region are calling Obama arrogant for slashing some of the prize winners? traditional duties from his schedule. ?Everybody wants to visit the Peace Center except Obama,? sniped the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, amid reports the president would snub his own exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center. ?A bit arrogant?a bit bad,? proclaimed another Aftenposten headline.

?It?s very sad,? said Nobel Peace Center Director Bente Erichsen of the news that Obama would skip the peace center exhibit. Prize winners traditionally open the exhibitions about their work that accompany the Nobel festivities. ?I totally understand why the Norwegian public is upset. If I could get a few minutes with the president, I?d say, ?To walk through the exhibition wouldn?t take long, and I?m sure you would love the show. You have no idea what you are missing.??

Meanwhile, the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet is reporting that the president has declined an invitation to lunch with King Harald V, an event every prize winner from the Dalai Lama to Al Gore has attended. (The newspaper?s headline: ?Obama disses lunch with King Harald.?)

To be fair, though, Obama’s just in town to pick up his prize, and the King probably doesn’t have enough accomplishments on his record yet to merit lunch with Obama. But here’s the best point:

The American president is acting like an elephant in a porcelain shop,? said Norwegian public-relations expert Rune Morck-Wergeland. ?In Norwegian culture, it?s very important to keep an agreement. We?re religious about that, and Obama?s actions have been clumsy. You just don?t say no to an invitation from a European king. Maybe Obama?s advisers are not very educated about European culture, but he is coming off as rude, even if he doesn?t mean to.?

Stupid cowboy.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).