Posted on 11/23/2009 1:35:14 PM PST by markomalley
President Obama's bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito in Tokyo earlier this month ignited anger from some conservatives who complained, in the words of blogger Donald Douglass, that the United States "now willingly prostrates itself before the rest of the world."
Now the president is responding – kind of. The Atlantic quotes "a US government official who was on the trip" who says the president was left "speechless" by the controversy.
"Obama's attitude was, this is an elderly gentleman in a country where this kind of greeting is customary," said the official. "It does not seem extraordinary to show this kind of gesture to him."
"The Fox News poll said that 67 percent of Americans thought [the bow] was a good thing for him to have done," the official continued. "When the president heard that some people had complained, I'd characterize his reaction as: The notion that the United States is somehow humbling or humiliating itself by showing respect for a local custom, when it is transparently the most powerful country in the world, leaves me speechless."
As criticism of the president for the bow bubbled up, media outlets noted that anger over what some see as excessive presidential deference to a foreign leader is nothing new. President George W. Bush was criticized for holding the hand of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, while Presidents Clinton and Nixon took heat for bows or near-bows to the Japanese emperor. Mr. Obama has also been criticized for genuflecting to Abdullah.
Thus, you have no answer to that. Obama’s bow was a submissive bow. The Nixon bow was nothing of the kind. You know it.
A respectful head nod would have been sufficient Mr. President but not a bow like you did before the other guy. Also, don’t you have protocol showing you the way as other Presidents have had or...do you just like to do things your own way and then make a spectacle of yourself????
A respectful head nod would have been sufficient Mr. President but not a bow like you did before the other guy. Also, don’t you have protocol showing you the way as other Presidents have had or...do you just like to do things your own way and then make a spectacle of yourself????
Is he and his protocol chief that clueless?
In Japanese terms, this was the kind of bow of a mentally defective ditch-digger would make before a Shogun.
Or in this instance...
Low bow? lol ;)
He showed no respect to the College Professor when he walked down the steps of the White House and let the policeman “who acted stupidly” help the elderly Professor.
It is not customary in Japan to bow so deep -- unless you are a street-sweeper.
Anything Obama does is good.
He just instinctively knows the correct thing to do, at all times and under all circumstances.
He's just better than you. Get used to it.
Well, Nixon is, now, speechless. right?
Uh???? Where in the US is such bowing a casual American custom?
I suspect 0 is too conceited to ask someone how to properly do something. And I suspect his protocol people are clueless - remember the ‘reset button’? Not to mention the gadzillion other protocol gaffs.
Yawn.
I saw the video on that. While it would still be technically a bow, he only bobbled his head, not a complete bow from the waist.
Why even post a reply? If you don’t have a response, the most sensible option would be to stop pointing out your ludicrous comparison between Obama’s submissive bow and Nixon’s head bow.
Did the teleprompter break down again?
Yawn. I pointed out a FACT refuting a claim that makes conservatives look foolish. You became insulting. Such internet elitism bores me. Yawn.
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