White House Screws Up Brazilian President Lula da Silva's Name

Brazil is going to be one of our most important trading partners in the next decade and the White House misspells the leaders name?

Still, the White House made several moves interpreted as snubs by the Brazilian media.

Silva aides said the trip was pushed forward from Tuesday because of the St. Patrick's Day holiday — making Latin America once again look like an afterthought. Then, the White House announcement misspelled his name as "Luis Ignacio" and put "Lula" — a nickname that decades ago became a legal part of the Brazilian leader's name — in quotes.

This is after those 25 Hollywood DVDs given to Gordon Brown in return for priceless pen sets made from a slave hunting ship. Then we have the Reset Button marked "Overcharge" given to the Russians.

I think the White House needs to slow down a bit or peel off a couple of people who's job it is to coordinate the interactions with world leaders. They will be there to Google the person and make sure their name is spelled correctly. They will also be in charge of picking up the appropriate gifts for the world leader so we don't look like uncaring doofs. So in this case their job would be to avoid giving President Da Silva 10 lbs of Brazil nuts in a Snoopy can.