[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Animal: Dollar Value of a gift? That reminds of me the sterotypical rich Texan oil tycoon? It's not about the dollar value, it's the craftmanship and materials that make it a choice piece, and quite honestly if I'm given a gift, I show some manners and look at it, irregardless of who gave it to me. I guess that's why I'm not the president.

Animal - you and your countrymen are correct - it should be the thought that counts. And it sounds as if your Prime Minister actually put a great deal of thought into exactly what type of gift he could give to the visiting heads of state that would represent a unique reflection of Canadian resources.

It's a shame the gift never actually made to President Bush for him to evaluate. Maybe his reaction to the gift would have been different and maybe it wouldn't have. As it was, the gift was received by an underling who was apparantly unimpressed due to his erroneous and poor judgement. I wonder if the Mayor had given his gift first? That might explain the underlings error in judgement. While President Bush was supposedly informed about the gift, how excited would he be expected to get when his underling says "The Prime Minister just gave you a pen holder worth no more than 20 bucks."?

Something else the article completely ignores - What did the other heads of state do with their pen holders. Did they recognize the true value of the gift and appreciate the thought that went into it? Or did they also think the Prime Minister had just given them a cheap pen holder?

I'm not justifying the U.S. reaction, I'm just wondering if we were the only ones that misjudged the value of the gift.