As per usual, he didn't phrase it that baldly, and the threat is at least thinly veiled, but he did pretty much spell it out:
The U.S. president warned the UK would be “at the back of the queue” for a trade deal with America if it quit Brussels....
Obama, who [may] no longer be in office when decisions on a trade deal are made, delivered a lecture to the British people on why he thinks it is in the U.K.’s, America’s and the world’s best interests for Britain to vote to stay in the E.U. on June 23rd.
He weighed into the debate despite being warned by a host of anti-E.U. campaigners to “butt out” of our referendum battle.
Heck, he probably wasn't going to weigh in (preferring to hit some of those Scottish golf courses) until he heard that domestic "rightwing extremists" were warning him not to. He never can resist that kind of enticement.
He said there could be a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement “down the line” but warned: “It’s not going to happen any time soon, because our focus is on negotiating with a big bloc, the E.U.. The U.K. is going to be in the back of the queue.”
Or, in other words, "Fuh queue".
That's certainly how the "Leave" forces heard it:
The claim, made during a joint news conference with David Cameron, angered Leave campaigners.
Tory Justice Minister Dominic Raab said Obama had made “a pretty cynical intervention”.
He added: “We [might have] a lame duck president doing an old friend a favour for purely political reasons – and taking a few unnecessary risks, being a bit irresponsible with the special relationship between our two countries.
“You can’t say on the one hand that the relationship is essential and always will be, then say that if you don’t take my advice you’ll be at the back of the queue for a free trade deal. I don’t think the British people will be blackmailed by anyone but he’s entitled to give his view.
The irony being that, as Richard Tice, co-founder of the Leave.E.U. campaign, pointed out, the reason why Great Britain doesn't have a trade deal with the U.S. is precisely because they've been part of the European Union. The Brits are saying that they no longer want to be "bundled" with Brussels, and here comes Red Barry issuing his royal decree to stay put. It's like if Lord Palmerston had gone to Montgomery, Alabama, in early 1861 and told Jefferson Davis to call off the attack on Fort Sumter.
It serves as a reminder of how The One has "fundamentally transformed" the "special relationship between our two countries" as he has everything else. Suffice it to say, that relationship is not longer "horizontal". And if his buttinskyism has the same effect as his gun-confiscation crusade, the European Union might cease to exist altogether in the not too distant future. And then none of its constituent members will want a trade deal with the U.S.
Mission accomplished?
If meddling in another sovereign nation's internal affairs sounds a tad hypocritical on O's party, you have a great appreciation for the obvious. But demigods are entitled to have all the streets be one-way, so I'm pretty sure we and the "Leaves" have been overruled.
But at least we now know how much King Hussein loves Winston Churchill, right?:
Barack Obama told Britons on Friday he loved Winston Churchill, rebuffing suggestions that he had disrespected the wartime leader because of a grudge against Britain linked to his Kenyan ancestry....
The Churchill issue arose after London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is campaigning for an "Out" vote, brought it up in an article criticizing Obama.
"I love Winston Churchill, I love the guy," Obama said when asked at a news conference about Johnson's article.
"Right outside the door of the Treaty Room, so that I see it every day, including on weekends when I'm going into that office to watch a basketball game, the primary image I see is a bust of Winston Churchill," said Obama, referring to his private office on the second floor of the White House.
"It's there voluntarily because I can do anything on the second floor," he said, standing alongside Prime Minister David Cameron, who is leading the "In" campaign. [emphasis added]
Meaning either (1) he's using the Churchill bust as a paperweight, (2) he's using it as a hat rack, or (3) he's using it as a bottle-opener. I guess it was either that or give it a place of honor on the back of his toilet tank with the old Sports Illustrateds.
This is a useful reminder of Obama's instinctive authoritarianism. He doesn't distinguish himself from the office he holds or the country he's supposed to be serving, not ruling. The British government gave that bust (assuming it's the same one - I forget now if he sent it back to them or not) to President Bush43 on behalf of the United States as a token of the esteem that had been inherent in the "special relationship between our two countries". His infernal majesty indicated what he thought of that symbol and that relationship by having it removed from the Oval Office.
But he "loves" Churchill. I'm sure if "the guy" was alive today, O would have him bringing him his beers, chili half-smokes, and fine Cuban stogies when he takes a load off in the Treaty Room and watches the NBA playoffs with his dogs on the coffee table. And Sir Winston was a good little white devil imperialist, POTUS might even dismiss him and let him go sit down.
Perhaps that's why he's so into cloning subsidies. I bet it would have been in the TTIP, too.
UPDATE: You thought I was kidding about the eighteen holes, didn't you....?
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