Do you seriously think Obama's bowing is that big a deal?

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Eisenhower bowing:
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2009/11/dwight-d-eisenhower-bowing-hour.html
Bush bowing:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/pictures/ZZ72682359.jpg
Nixon bowing:
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/5c8f4325f5d81345_landing

As much as I would love to bash dumbya left and right until time ends, I don't think he's bowing, I think he's getting a medal or ribbon, it looks like the Saudi King(?) is holding something to place over his head.

 

[Robor]

I think I understand the winger outrage on this, finally - I get it now!!

"Now we know why Mr. Obama stunned everyone with an earlier similar bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, only the bow to the Japanese emperor was far more flamboyant, a sign of a really deep sense of inferiority. He was only practicing his bow in Riyadh. Sometimes rituals are learned with difficulty. It took Bill Clinton months to learn how to return a military salute worthy of a commander in chief; like any draft dodger, he kept poking a thumb in his eye until he finally got it. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, seems right at home now giving a wow of a bow. This is not the way an American president impresses evildoers that he's strong, tough and decisive, that America is not to be trifled with. "
************************
"But Mr. Obama, unlike his predecessors, likely knows no better, and many of those around him, true children of the grungy '60s, are contemptuous of custom. Cutting America down to size is what attracts them to "hope" for "change." It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of "the 57 states" is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream. "

Pretty much the most chickenshit thing I've seen in a while - this is the perfect embodiment of right-wing insecurity and faux machismo - with a spritz of racism at the end.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...-bows-the-nation-cringes/?feat=home_headlines

Wow. My wife is a foreigner from a poor country. I guess I'm not a 'real American' either.

JFC what an asshole. That douche needs a running punch in the face!

 

[soccerballtux]

Missing option: President of the United States should know what a deep bow means to Japan, culturally.

 

[IGBT]

he's a capitulator. he's doing what comes natural.

 

[nageov3t]

I think it's mildly disrespectful to the office that he holds, but I'm not losing sleep over it.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I've seen presidents render a salute to US military officers - does that indicate the officer is his superior? No, it's just the etiquette.

 

[fskimospy]

he's a capitulator. he's doing what comes natural.

Wait, half the time he's a tyrant crushing America under his bootheel and the other half of the time he's a capitulator. Which one is it?

I'm not asking that you stop posting insane and poorly informed rants against Obama, but it would be nice if they were a bit more internally consistent.

 

[blackangst1]

It depends on the bow. If it is as he did, a full bow, then absolutely. To us, it may just look like a gesture of respect, but to the Japanese, a full bow is considered a sign of subordination. When you bow for mutual respect, its a 1/4 bow, and you never lose eye contact. He did it way wrong, and essentially was saying to Japan "We are below you, and we respect you" It doesnt matter what WE think, what matters is what Obama said non-verbally.

He fucked up.

 

[jonks]

As much as I would love to bash dumbya left and right until time ends, I don't think he's bowing, I think he's getting a medal or ribbon, it looks like the Saudi King(?) is holding something to place over his head.

maybe, but what about this:
http://www.stolendroids.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bush_bow.jpg (omg, he's giving control of the US to the pope! and he's not even a catholic!)

 

[nageov3t]

maybe, but what about this:
http://www.stolendroids.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bush_bow.jpg (omg, he's giving control of the US to the pope! and he's not even a catholic!)

I don't think people would be making an issue out of it if Obama nodded his head?

well, ok... some people probably would.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

maybe, but what about this:
http://www.stolendroids.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bush_bow.jpg (omg, he's giving control of the US to the pope! and he's not even a catholic!)

I'm on your side...

 

[jonks]

I'm on your side...

yeah, i saw that. i just meant there's other photos of bowing, holding hands with shieks, attempts at neck massages, etc. This is one of those complain just to complain topics, they existed for W too.

 

[shadow9d9]

17 crazies here is about right.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I don't like Obama all that much, but having a cow over this? No thanks.

 

[3chordcharlie]

I can certainly see both sides of the argument. When you bow to a monarch you are below them. As POTUS you are certainly at the same level. Personally I think the POTUS is above a monarch.

Will I go bonkers over it? No, it really isnt the end of the world. But IMO he shouldnt be doing it either.

No, this completely misses the point - in the USA, NO ONE is below a monarch, or above them, because there is no such thing as royalty, therefore no one should need to bow to a monarch.

Now, from a cultural sensitivity standpoint, if the monarch reciprocates by respecting American traditions - say by sending some pork to the President's 'peeps', or ordering some no-warrant domestic wiretapping - then I see no problem with the bow.

 

[werepossum]

Eisenhower bowing:
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2009/11/dwight-d-eisenhower-bowing-hour.html
Bush bowing:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/pictures/ZZ72682359.jpg
Nixon bowing:
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/5c8f4325f5d81345_landing

Um, none of those bows compare to Obama's, they are little more than nods rather than the full-on obsequiousness. Not that I care if Obama bows to the Japanese emperor, or how low. The Obama team has had problems with protocol, and I don't think you can go wrong by showing an elderly, ceremonial emperor of a great ally too much respect. Better too much than too little respect. Frankly I prefer that to their manhandling of Queen Elizabeth (not that I particularly cared about that either.) And I KNOW I prefer that to Bush the Elder puking on heads of state. I'm just saying, not really the same thing.

 

[0marTheZealot]

How have previous presidents greeted a monarch? A handshake is good enough. If they have a problem with it tough shit. POTUS doesnt need to bow to show a sign of respect to people who inherit their position via birth.

Where was your outrage when Bush practically french kissed the Saudi King?

 

[Craig234]

Wow. My wife is a foreigner from a poor country. I guess I'm not a 'real American' either.

JFC what an asshole. That douche needs a running punch in the face!

It's incredible the idiocy and evil mentality reflected by that editorial by a Washington Times former Editor, as his argument attacks Obama simply for his father being Kenyan - what is he implying about the inferiority of all Kenyan genes by that? To his mother for her being attracted to a foreign man - what does that prove about Obama or her being bad? And then he lobs a bombshell that Hawaii is 'not in the American mainstream', so that proves that Obama - not his positions, simply living in Hawaii as a child - is a problem.

This right-wing ideology is a cult as I have said many times - a dangerous one perpetuade by its spouse, the corporate agenda it whores itself to for the funding to spread.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Nixon bowing:

That is a good image and a proper bow of respect, not one of groveling submission. Obama certainly isn't the first POTUS to look like a backwood rendeck without a clue about cultural traditions, he is simply following GWB a bit too closely for any reasonable person to be comfortable with in that regard.

 

[Dari]

No American President should ever bow to any foreign leader like that. Ever. He's done it twice and it's shameful.

 

[piasabird]

Americans do not bow to kings. We overthrew our king and we have the right to never bow. We won this right with the blood of patriots. I will never bow to anyone but Jesus Christ or God.

Born free; Die Free!

 

[Siddhartha]

Both of these get my vote:

Simple sign of respect

We got bigger problems/I don't friggin' care

 

[BladeVenom]

Did the emperor bow back?

A President who represents the people should be considered a higher rank than a leftover figurehead from a primitive era.

He breached etiquette by shaking hands and bowing at the same time. You don't touch them when you bow.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Respecting the customs of other countries in no way shows weakness. It is a way to gain respect in return at no real cost.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Wow there's some insane people in this thread. Now I know where Fox gets its viewership from.