Maybe I am being too patriotic but, the leader of the FREE WORLD is giving an audience to the Queen

[wndycty]

. . .she better be on her P's and Q's.

I keep hearing how Michelle and Barack need to act a certain way, but FUCK THAT, Obama is POTUS he is at least her equal, if not superior to her (he was elected).

That is all.

ON EDIT: I won't edit the original OP but comment, I most likely err'ed by calling Obama the leader of the free world, but my intent was to basically call out the fact that the president and first lady of one of the world's largest democracies (I believe India is the world's largest democracy) and one of the largest economies is expected by some to act as if they subservient to the Queen of England. I love DU because it is a place where in taking offense to something I can end up offending other folks. . .LOL

[babylonsister]

1. They haven't been told that from what I just heard. They were told

to be themselves-that will be more than good enough, even for the queen.

[SoxFan]

2. "Yo, Liz!"

I'd love to hear that. The whole notion of hereditary royalty is ludicrous.

[Deep13]

3. POTUS is visiting Britian's richest unemployed person. nt

[avaistheone1]

4. Talk about being on the dole!

The royalty sure know how to do it.

[truebrit71]

6. Epic Fail

:eyes:

[Captain Hilts]

51. Don't tell them our prez costs us a whole lot more! nt

[JayMusgrove]

53. How does THAT compute?

All the secret service, etc?

Ever See Queen Liz do a public meeting taking questions from ordinary Americans?

I thought not.

Royalty will be abolished in the UK when Price William takes over... IMO. He knows the score, and will simply take a pension, and get a real job, Harry will, too.

Oh no, I doubt that will happen, but we all can hope. By the way, where are Harry and Will? Don't they want some photo ops with our "KING"????

[Captain Hilts]

55. Take off your shoes and calculate. Keeping the prez costs us more per year. Most of Liz's $$ is

family money that they've had for generations.

[JayMusgrove]

56. I never put shoes on today.

A president of the USA does a bit more than Queen Liz, and her family do.

We hired him, the Brits never had a chance to hire or fire Liz.

I think the Brits pay for most costs of castle management, security, food, etc.

I don't think that queen earns a penny other than from all her investment dividends, and doesn't pay taxes.

I'd love to see a real link to a breakdown as to how the Queen does manage on her fortunes, and how much the Brits have to pay for it in taxes. Any links?

[truebrit71]

5. Fail

:eyes:

[Deep13]

11. So what exactly is her job, then? nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Head of State.

:shrug:

[GCP]

22. She works a hell of a lot harder at the age of 80 years old

Than a lot of people on this board.

[truebrit71]

24. Amen to that..

...

[Deep13]

32. Well, at what?

Maybe you're right, but I don't seem to know what she does.

And while I may work long hours at times and while my job my be difficult mentally; I would never characterize what I do as being "hard work." Iron work, farming, carpentry, restaurant service involve hard work, to cite obvious examples. Typing legal documents like I do does not.

[Captain Hilts]

35. She is a WWII vet and has been getting daily intelligence briefings since 1953.

So, she's earned some dap from me.

[LostinVA]

54. You said it -- lots of ignorance about the influence and schedule of Her Majesty

[LostinVA]

52. The Queen actually works very, very hard

[ErinBerin84]

7. Is anyone watching CNN?

The reporter (I forget his name...Tony?) is getting really giggly and nervous and saying "I just want this part to go well, this part of their trip", and the protocol person and CNN International person basically told him to stop acting like such a doofus.

[onehandle]

8. What a weird outrage.

Obama, I'm sure, would not care about your little tirade.

I'm sure he has respect for other country's traditions. He is not George W. Bush.

[wndycty]

13. Wow. . .this is the fucking DU, if we can't speak our mind here, even about weird outages. . .

. . .where else can we do it?

[Captain Hilts]

37. BINGO! He will be a polite guest in the Buck House, unlike GWB. nt

[Captain Hilts]

38. BINGO! He will be a polite guest in the Buck House, unlike GWB. nt

[truebrit71]

9. Wrong way around...If Her Majesty were visiting HIM then you would be correct...

..as it Mr & Mrs Prez are visiting HER...

[Captain Hilts]

39. People on this board don't even use the manners they were born with. Sad. nt

[truebrit71]

43. Indeed..but their "outrage metres" are finely tuned though...

...:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

50. Cheerio!

Dad was born in Brighton and my mum's dad in Liverpool.

Go Reds!

[biopowertoday]

45. There are

only a few I have on ignore and it is one of those. glad i can not see the comment.

best.

[cali]

10. her house, her audience. simple enough.

[Captain Hilts]

40. Correct. Her tea. Her krumpets. nt

[azmouse]

12. The Queen is the Head of State.

Proper respect should be paid her just like Pres Obama deserves respect. No different.

[onehandle]

15. Exactly right. nt

[wndycty]

19. Think about this. When she was HERE that idiot Bush winked at her. . .

. . .and while I think it was classless for him to do it, she was in this country and he was chastised for having the audacity to wink at the Queen.

So this lady whose only qualification for being a head of state is that is birthright is gets treated like she is a goddess or something.

[azmouse]

27. That wink would have been inappropriate to any Head of State.

Boosh had no class. Remember, he gave a neck rub to the German Chancellor Merkel.

[cali]

46. bush's laci of manners is, thankfully, not emulated by President Obama

and England is not our country. Whatever I- or you- may think of the monarchy is quite irrelevant. Obama is a guest in her house. He and Michelle will behave accordingly. As I said, simple stuff.

[DevonRex]

14. We're all her equals. Thanks for reminding us. Sometimes we buy

into the royalty stuff.

The Obamas will do well in their visit and the Queen will be gracious.

[Deep13]

34. agreed. nt

[Adelante]

16. Eh nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. Enough of this "leader of the free world" bullshit

What the fuck does that even mean after the fall of communism? God, Americans are such fucking assholes.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Political Heretic]

26. Sorry man - we Americans are just very heavily, deeply indoctrinated

...in American exceptionalism.

We're working on it. I swear.

[moez]

31. You just say that

because we allow you to...

[krabigirl]

36. Seriously. America is not a free country, especially after 8 years of Bush.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. There are a lot of adjectives that describe that train of thought.

"patriotic" isn't one of them.

[Turbineguy]

23. If nothing else

she must be relieved that idiot Bush is gone.

[Political Heretic]

25. What do we lead the free world in exactly?

I mean apart from blowing things up.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

28. She's head of state

and has no political power. The respect shown her is really respect shown to her nation. That is the reason respect is given, not who she's descended from (speaking as a genealogist of 30 years, I'll say that most people with European backgrounds find out they're related to royalty in some way or another. So probably most of the DUers of British descent are the Queen's cousins.)

[azmouse]

29. And probably quite a few of German descent too.

Wasn't Queen Victoria's husband German?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

41. Queen Victoria was German

George I was the Prince of Hanover, and took over the British throne after the last of the Stuarts died. He was related to them through his mother, plus he was Protestant, which is what made him and his House of Hanover more appealing than a Catholic king. Victoria was the last of this house.

[dflprincess]

44. Queen Victoria was the great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth

(and Prince Phillip as well). Despite George V changing the name to Windsor in 1917, there really is a an unbroken line to the Hanovers. (Though, technically, it is now called the House of Windsor).

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

49. yep

George V changed the name from Saxe-Coberg Gotha to Windsor because of the anti-German sentiment during WWI. Elizabeth changed the name to Mountbatton-Windsor.

[biopowertoday]

30. Wrong. you are mixed up. It is the Queen who is giving the audiance

[Captain Hilts]

33. He's under her roof, so he plays by her rules. Liz also hated GWB. nt

[Sebastian Doyle]

42. God Save The Queen

We mean it man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKOvqOhr_zk

[PBS Poll-435]

47. Wow

Wow.

[Beacool]

48. Really? You don't say........

The Queen has seen many a world leader come and go in her lifetime. I'm sure that she was curious to meet them, but she certainly has met hundreds of world leaders as Queen since the 50s. Nothing new for her.

:shrug:

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

57. LOL indeed. He is the leader of the free world.

Plus, the last time I looked we won our independence. I will say that I do like our connection to Britain, lets just remember the pecking order. :patriot: