Unprecedented: Barack Obama turns down undeserved award
Barack Obama has refused to attend a Royal Society banquet in his honor at which he was to be awarded with a prestigious medal.
This news just in from the Telegraph UK’s “Man Bites Dog” Department:
Barack Obama has snubbed Britain’s most eminent scientists by refusing to attend a Royal Society banquet in his honour at which he was to be awarded with a prestigious medal.
"I'm honored to give you this award naming you the bestest president ever."
The US President was offered the chance to receive the King Charles II medal, which is awarded in “exceptional circumstances” to heads of state who have “made an outstanding contribution to furthering scientific research in their country”.
We admit to doing a double take. Not to be cynical, but our president turns down an award about as frequently as Dominique Strauss Kahn refuses a free hotel room. We wondered if due to the language barrier, Obama’s team mistakenly thought he was being offered a bust of Churchill.
The Royal Society seemed to have its own explanation:
A British government source close to the Obama visit said: “The Royal Society was really keen to do something with Obama and they expected him to be very honoured by the medal.
“Instead they received a very short response from his people saying that it would be better for him to visit a state school.
“The inference they took from that was that he was more interested in cultivating his street cred than in building links with British scientists.”
We understand perfectly. Obama has received all the undeserved adulation one man can stand in a lifetime. Pity their response was tinged with a bit of racism, as perhaps was their original offer.
