Exchanging gifts is a tradition that has been going on for centuries. Kings did it, and so are leaders now. That’s not saying it should or has to be done. The exchange is meant to pave the way for leaders of different cultures. It seems to be a universal symbol.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not against gift giving itself by any means because I give gifts to those I love for Christmas and other occasions.
But I am against the president and others like him doing it when all it does is basically buy influence. And to me, that is bribery. Bribery is basically giving anything to somebody in order to persuade one to do something.
We all know how corrupt politicians are. I would be shocked if the gift-giving didn’t lead to some back-room deal that is a slap in the face to each respective country involved.
Each president from George Washington to Barack Obama has given and received gifts from other world leaders. 
There actually was a time when many people were against their leader receiving a gift from another leader. They thought it would be the start to something bad, or even betrayal. I understand why they thought this because it would be impolite to reject it but offensive to take it. It was one of those lose-lose situations.
I am not a Scrooge, though. I understand the importance of having good relations with people in other parts of the world. Those relationships need to be maintained if America wants to be a force to be reckoned with abroad.
Gift giving isn’t the only thing that comes out of foreign leaders visiting other leaders. There is the whole glitz and glamour of TV stations wanting to watch every second of a foreign leader’s visit to our country.
There are elaborate dinners which could be another way to bribe. But the whole process is supposed to help with cooperation as well as friendship.
I’m pretty sure everybody has gotten a gift he or she didn’t like. I’m pretty sure everybody has given a gift that he or she then or later realized the other person didn’t like. There’s the question of price range and value.
I would be insulted if I, as a foreign leader, gave somebody a nice gift they actually fell in love with right away, and all I got in return was something I couldn’t use that was cheap.
This actually was the case with Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Queen Elizabeth.
Brown gave Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship, the HMS Gannet. He also gave him a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert. The Obama children got nice outfits to wear.
Obama gave the prime minister two models of Marine One, which is the presidential helicopter, for them to take home to their children. But got the most attention was the fact he gave him a boxed set of 25 American classics. That’s nice and all. Not! But seriously, that’s something he could’ve have gotten himself. Also, the DVDs weren’t formatted for British DVD players. The British press wasn’t impressed by that modesty. 
The president gave Queen Elizabeth an ipod. An iPod? I was shocked by that. The ipod had video and pictures from her trip to America. The biggest problem with that was she already had an iPod. She, in return, gave him a silver framed photo of herself and her husband.
It wasn’t just Obama who gave bad gifts. George W. Bush gave a fur-trimmed brown leather bomber jacket to Brown. What kind of mess is that? That made America look bad.
They wouldn’t run into this problem if they didn’t give gifts in the first place.
Christopher Webb is a junior majoring in  business administration. He can be contacted at [email protected]