Sorry

[philw]

on behalf of the Real Austalia  Sledge and I would like to Apologies for JuLiar 's effort over in the US 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/gillard-and-us-president-team-spirit/story-fn6b3v4f-1226017980193

Gillard and US President team spirit


Some sort of handpass: Prime Minister Julia Gillard shows US President Barack Obama the rudiments of Australian rules in the Oval Office. Source: The Daily Telegraph

IT WAS the day the oval ball came to the Oval Office. While trade and Afghan-istan were high on the agenda for the White House meeting between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US President Barack Obama yesterday, an impromptu footy lesson is what will be remembered.

Ms Gillard, a self-confessed Western Bulldogs fan, produced a gift AFL football after her meeting with Mr Obama, and gave him a few tips on the "Australian" game.

What followed was an explanation of the handball versus the gridiron pass and a few tentative kicks, prompting Mr Obama to later joke that they had knocked over a statue of Abraham Lincoln.

What was obvious was the rapport between Mr Obama and Ms Gillard in what was another example of the special place the Oval Office has in the history of US presidencies.

James Morrow, a commentator on US-Australian relations, said the Oval Office had been the setting for some powerful, personal and moving presidential moments since it was built in the 1930s.

"It's more than just a room. It's the symbolic seat of power for the American executive," he said. "Since the photographic age, an awful lot of very famous images have come out of there, for better or worse."

For the better was the famous image of John F. Kennedy's son John playing under his dad's desk in 1963. For the worse, there's a beaming Bill Clinton standing alongside Monica Lewinsky before their tryst was outed.

After the meeting, Ms Gillard was asked if she was pressed to expand the permanent US presence and have US military stationed in Australia.

"There is no sense of pressure here, there is a sense of enthusiasm," she said.

"We are two militaries that co-operate every day, we fight side by side in Afghanistan.

"I believe the United States is enthusiastic about looking at ways we can further that co-operation into the future."

Ms Gillard was last night (Australian time) to become just the fourth Australian PM to address a joint sitting of the US Congress. She was expected to emphasise the two nations' close strategic links and her view that US global leadership, particularly in our region, was "still essential".

[BAC]

I just threw up a little in my mouth.