Americans on the Obama visit

The other night we hung out with our Cairo friend and her ex-pat circle, all of them American. They were confused about the Obama visit - why Canada first? What's the big deal?

The three Canadians exploded into a chorus of "this is tradition!" "we're 20% of your trade!" and "you're 80% of our trade!". The well-travelled, well-educated, and lovely Americans mostly had no idea. "What do we buy from you?" one of them asked.

Oil. Natural resources. Wood. Potash. The Big Three Carmakers ship vehicles back and forth between Detroit and Windsor so much it's hard to tell whether they're US- or Canadian-made. They were so gracious about listening to us, I told them this is what Americans get for hanging out with Canadians - the bilateral trade lecture.

Bets on how many mentions the visit will get on CNN? I'm thinking under 10.