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Obama a Re-Gifter?

I see that Prime Minister John Key has met with President Obama over in the US.
According to Radio NZ News, apart from talking trade deals, they also exchanged gifts  -

Mr Obama has given Mr Key a New Zealand-made gift, a replica of the sword being used in the Hobbit movies, by the character Bilbo Baggins.
It was made by the Weta Workshop in Wellington.
In return, Mr Key gave Mr Obama a greenstone mere, made by Ngai Tahu.

Now, I ask you - isn't this regifting? Why on earth would you give someone something that was made in their own country; and something (Lord of the Rings) that the country is famously known for? And where did he get it from? Is he a regifter?

Historically, he hasn't been very good with the gift ideas. He gave the queen an iPod filled with music, and back in 2009 he gave then British PM Gordon Brown a set of 25 DVD movies (which he probably can't watch in the UK because of region encoding). From Newsbusters -

For his part, PM Brown gave two symbolic gifts and one that expressed national pride. Brown came bearing a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of that which gave the wood to create the famous "Resolute Desk," the desk that has been in America's charge since 1880. He also gave Obama the framed commission for that famous ship, the HMS Resolute. His third gift was a seven-volume biography of one of England's greatest leaders, Winston Churchill.
So, what did President Obama give the British PM? 25 movies on DVD. Yeah, that's it. Brown gives a symbolic gift like the pen holder fashioned from a famous British warship and Obama responds by sending a staffer to WalMart to pick up a few quick movies.

Real classy O, real classy.....







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