“There’s one last thing I should mention I love about Great Britain and that is the Queen. I’m very much looking forward to meeting her.”

This spoke the leader of our republic, Barack Obama, when he arrived in Britain this week. He duly went weak at the knees when her majesty gave him an audience – lucky Barack!

Great fun and games of course, especially with the media focusing on Michelle and her majesty, but did our leader contemplate even for a second just how racist an institution this monarchy is?

You would think given his own background, Obama would think twice about praising an institution so clearly racist and wallowing in religious bigotry.

Since 1701 and the act of settlement, no Catholic can ever become king or queen of England. Indeed no Muslim, Jew, or Buddhist can either. You have to be Protestant.

 I know this kind of thing gets brushed under the carpet a lot, but would Barack make such warm and loving comments about say a golf club that banned Catholics but happened to have a wonderful old queen as lead member?

Or would he joke along with the leader of a Jewish banning country club, no matter how charming and   fun the old geezer was?

Of course not, but Barack has missed a golden opportunity to help change the focus of history by kowtowing to the queen in such an embarrassing manner.

There is actually a major debate in Britain on this issue at present, to his credit Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made it clear that he wants it changed, that the old racism cannot stand.

Barack could have lent a powerful hand by mentioning that he too, would like to see a monarchy free of racism.

He didn’t of course, just went gaga like all the U.S. leaders before him. The British tortured his grandfather during the Kenyan Mau Mau wars, a fact he alludes to in his biography. He was fighting for the same things George Washington was –freedom from a tyrannical monarch.

Obama had his chance to make his views known on a major issue involving racism and religious bigotry. He fluffed it and more’s the pity.