Great Britain and the United States — despite a few dust-ups in the late 18th and 19th centuries — have long been the best of friends. Our alliance, forged in a shared culture of respect for democracy and liberty, has been responsible for the preservation and promotion of freedom across the globe. And it is a relationship to be honored.

Someone needs to tell that to our current president. His latest petty but harmful slight to our greatest and most essential ally is one of a string of insults that may eventually do irreparable damage, writes TAC contributor Jim Lakely.

Winston Churchill rightly called the bond between Great Britain and the United States a "special relationship," and its strength has greatly served both countries and the cause of freedom around the world. America’s culture of freedom doesn’t flower without Britain’s cultural underpinnings. Indeed, our spirit of independence has much to thank to Scotland’s centuries-long and righteous yearning for liberty. William Wilberforce’s work to abolish slavery in the British Empire in the early 19th century gave moral and political authority to America’s abolitionists — which after unimaginable bloodshed finally put deed to the desires of our Founding Fathers to make true the declaration that "all men are created equal."

In the mid-20th century, Britain stood firm against the advance of Nazism and fascism. And in freedom (and Britain’s) darkest hour, we were there to fight for liberty — together. The alliance held firm through the Cold War, eventually bringing down the Soviet Empire without firing a shot. And in our darkest hour, the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Britain immediately jumped to our side, no questions asked.

Churchill, so good with words, sort of underplayed the American-British relationship by characterizing it as "special." But in one word, it sums up the historical, cultural, political and philosophical ties our countries share. Yet President Obama, in just eight months, seems to be doing his damnedest to damage that relationship at every opportunity. We all remember the details of what can only be described as high-level petulance:

• unceremoniously sending back the Churchill bust without even a thank you note;

• snubbing UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his first visit by not having a joint presser (which is quite odd coming from a guy whose desire to stand before the cameras and pontificate is unmatched in presidential history);

• giving Brown the insulting afterthought gift of unusable DVDs while Brown presented thoughtful and meaningful gifts reflective of the long friendship of Britain and America;

• sending lackeys out to say: "There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment." (No. If you want special treatment, it’s better to be a thuggish dictator like Hugo Chavez, who has never had to beg for face time.); and

• giving the Queen of England an iPod of his speeches.

It’s a string of shameful embarrassments from the man who said he’d rescue our foreign policy from the bumbling idiot from Texas who supposedly couldn’t get anyone to like him or America. It is not much individually, but in sum, the stab is deep. I note that Obama is quick to apologize on the world stage for every real (and mostly imagined) sin perpetrated by the United States — all of which happened before Obama arrived to redeem us, of course. But not only does Obama not apologize for his boorishness towards our greatest and most important ally, he keeps doubling down.

Via Scott Johnson at Power Line, we learn the latest instance of Obama giving Great Britain the back of his hand. Apparently, Gordon Brown had asked repeatedly to be granted a brief audience with The One at this week’s UN confab, and was rebuffed by the Obama administration. Brown had to resort to scrambling through the U.N. kitchen and trapping Obama somewhere between the line cooks and the walk-in. This kind of treatment towards the leader of a country that has sacrificed 217 soldiers in Afghanistan — you know, that war Obama said was not a "war of choice" but one we "must win" — is disgraceful.

Or, as David Hughes of The Telegraph of London puts it in the headline of his blog post: Barack Obama’s churlishness is unforgivable. The whole post is brief, but powerful, so I paste it here in its entirety:

The juxtaposition on our front page this morning is striking. We carry a photograph of Acting Sgt Michael Lockett – who was killed in Helmand on Monday – receiving the Military Cross from the Queen in June, 2008. He was the 217th British soldier to die in the Afghan conflict. Alongside the picture, we read that the Prime Minister was forced to dash through the kitchens of the UN in New York to secure a few minutes “face time” with President Obama after five requests for a sit-down meeting were rejected by the White House.

What are we to make of this? This country has proved, through the bravery of men like Acting Sgt Lockett, America’s staunchest ally in Afghanistan. In return, the American President treats the British Prime Minister with casual contempt. The President’s graceless behaviour is unforgivable. As most members of the Cabinet would confirm, it’s not a barrel of laughs having to sit down for a chat with Gordon Brown. But that’s not the point. Mr Obama owes this country a great deal for its unflinching commitment to the American-led war in Afghanistan but seems incapable of acknowledging the fact. You might have thought that after the shambles of Mr Brown’s first visit to the Obama White House – when there was no joint press conference and the President’s “gift” to the Prime Minister was a boxed DVD set – lessons would have been learned. Apparently not. Admittedly, part of the problem was Downing Street’s over-anxiety to secure a face-to-face meeting for domestic political purposes but the White House should still have been more obliging. Mr Obama’s churlishness is fresh evidence that the US/UK special relationship is a one-way street.

Scott offers an apology to the British people. I extend the same, and ask again: What the hell is wrong with this guy? I took a little flak back in March at Infinite Monkeys when I observed the defining characteristic of Obama’s foreign policy seemed to be to piss off our allies and curry favor with our enemies. Not much has changed. Obama’s obsequious speech before the UN Wednesday was applauded most heartily by the worst tyrants in the world — the same tyrants who always seem to have nice things to say about President Obama but always had awful things to say about President Bush.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather British journalists had reason to praise my president, rather than call him out for churlishness and graceless behavior. And I rather British Prime Ministers didn’t have to re-enact a Benny Hill sketch to catch up with an American president.

The behavior of the Obama administration towards Great Britain is unforgivable, and a national embarrassment. And there is but one man responsible for it. We can only hope the damage can be repaired one day — if not by this president, then the next.