They will play him like a stradivarious all around Asia now, particularly in Beijing, and even where he is not going, in enemy Pyongyang.
This was the tone he set at the OAS meeting where Chavez stepped up and used him, whereupon Zelaya in Honduras was immediately emboldened to try to seize unending power through a referendum coup and had to be constitutionally removed, I am convinced (looking at the timeline).
This is dangerous. This imagery can become the precursors to the precursors to war, because it emboldens the enemy in their psych profiling of our leaders and whether they are made of "the stuff" or not.
Now watch North Korea REALLY start to test him, to rattle his cage to see if he gets the squirts, by stepping up provocations in the Yellow (West) Sea along the NLL and the DMZ, prior to him going to Seoul next week.
Plz tell us if he does anything stupid like this over in South Korea next week....
Your predictions are highly accurate IMHO.
The whole Korean and US allied contingent should be put on high alert because of this bowing incident.
Over the next week or two the shite will hit the fan. Come to think of it, that's what I read in Akihito's face.
The Orient now knows that we have a weak president, one who falsely assumes a wisdom which is astoundingly absent.
Japanese diplomats are probably scurrying around in the background wondering how they might compensate for Obama, or perhaps are asking each other whether they should even bother.
Perhaps the end result here will be that Japan realizes it must now go it alone for a while, and beef up their military. Some say that is inevitable, and perhaps to the Japanese, Obama is a signal that they now have no alternative.This Obavisit to Japan will likely give huge energy to the Conservative wing of the Japanese political scene.
This is the true problem with this ill-educated moron being in the WH. As he does not "get" the bigger picture - the world's view of him, and hence this country, our Nation's image is irreparably tarnished. The Chinese, North Korean's and indeed, the entire world will see this obsequious bow and think - America is Weak.
God Save the Republic!
AIT, thanks for your insight on this. This is horrid.
If Obama had talked to ANYONE at the embassy here they would have given him precise and easy-to-understand instructions on how to greet the Emperor.
It's obvious that the didn't - possibly thinking that all bows are alike and Hey golly gee won't that Emperor fellow think I am so cool knowin' about Japanese culture an all...
He'll probably ask for chopsticks at the state dinner -- even if they are serving French food.