TENSIONS RISING WITH BRITAIN – AT 8:03 A.M. ET:  Did you ever think you'd read that headline in your lifetime?  But it's true.  Our masterful commander-in-chief, head diplomat, and host for neat White House music concerts, has managed to damage our relations with Britain, as with...well, it's a long list.  From Fox:

WASHINGTON -- The Gulf oil spill, with a British company the villain, is raising tensions on both sides of the Atlantic.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron planned to discuss the environmental catastrophe Saturday by telephone, hoping to ease what has become a growing rift between the two countries over the criticism of the well's owner, BP PLC.

As BP struggles unsuccessfully to halt the gushing oil that is bringing environmental chaos to the Gulf Coast, Obama has sharpened his criticism of the British company. He said he would have fired BP's top executive if he were in charge, embraced the idea that the oil giant suspend its quarterly dividend and reproached BP for spending money on a public relations campaign.

And occasionally Obama would refer to "British Petroleum," although the company years ago began using only its initials and, in fact, is a far-reaching international corporation with extensive holdings in the United States, including a Texas refinery and a share of the Alaska oil pipeline.

The sharp rhetoric from Washington, aimed to the address the concerns of angry Americans, especially those in the Gulf Coast region, has produced a backlash in Britain, where BP is viewed as one of the country's corporate pillars. Millions of British retirees depend on BP dividends since pension funds are heavily invested in the oil company, the world's third-largest.

Cameron has tried to find a middle ground. He has said he shares with Americans the "frustration" about not being able to halt the spill and concern about the environmental damage caused by the thousands of barrels of oil gushing from the BP well. But Cameron also views BP "as an economically important company" not only in the United Kingdom but also the United States and other countries, according to his office.

COMMENT:  I love it, I love it.  Obama, that great intellectual sophisticate, can't even get the name of the company right.  I'll bet he loves saying "British Petroleum."  A few nasty remarks about Churchill are sure to follow.

And, of course, I'm sure we'll have another dustup with Israel, and maybe one with Poland or the Czech Republic over missile defense.

Ah, this new foreign policy.  Let us count the victories.  I say, let us count...

June 12,  2010