After the Obamas’ abysmal treatment of Gordon and Sarah Brown, they’re struggling to do some damage control. See, they didn’t mean to snub the Prime Minister… he was just so tired and overwhelmed.

Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.

But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama’s inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.

Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president’s surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama’s inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to “even fake an interest in foreign policy”.

A British official conceded that the furore surrounding the apparent snub to Mr Brown had come as a shock to the White House. “I think it’s right to say that their focus is elsewhere, on domestic affairs. A number of our US interlocutors said they couldn’t quite understand the British concerns and didn’t get what that was all about.”

The American source said: “Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.

“That was the gamble these guys made at the front end of this presidency and I think they’re finding it a hard thing to do everything.”

So, he’s bringing out the same old excuse from his campaign. Every time he flubbed during the campaign, it was because he was tired. And now, he can’t handle a visit from one of our longest and closest allies because he was “too tired”?

How can he effectively manage the country if he’s “too tired” to actually handle the responsibilities that come with the job? Obama is clearly in way over his head here. The presidency is not a job that allows for on-the-job training, yet that’s exactly what is happening and Obama apparently can’t handle the pressure. He’s apparently overwhelmed at the sheer volume of business that comes across his desk, but that did he expect? As the most powerful man in the world, did he think all he’d have to do was sit back with his feet up on the desk and never actually work??

Who am I kidding, that’s probably exactly what he thought.

But just in case the horrible treatment of Britain and Obama’s lame excuse wasn’t enough, they had to throw in one more snub:

The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: “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.”

This was extremely, extremely stupid. Either way, the Obama administration loses. Either they’re a bunch of clueless, incompetent idiots who get overwhelmed by even the slightest responsibilities, or they’re a bunch of stuck-up, narcissistic pricks who look at our closest ally as insignificant. It doesn’t look good either way, although I’d wager the truth is that his administration is probably some pathetic mash-up of the two.

I thought Obama was bragging about how smart his diplomacy was going to be. Is this his brand of “smart” diplomacy — to insult the strongest ally we have? Rather than show graciousness and simply apologize, which may well have made this entire issue become quickly forgotten, they had to act like adolescents utterly unwilling to ever admit that they were wrong. Instead, it’s excuse after excuse after excuse. And none of these excuses make Obama look any better; rather, the more excuses he gives the worse it makes him look.

Obama’s inexperience shows more by the day.