comments (43) | | permalinkPosted on 04/08/2009 2:06:27 PM PDT by Plutarch
The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets.
"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Washington Times called the alleged bow a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate" and said it violated centuries of American tradition of not deferring to royalty. The Weekly Standard, meanwhile, noted that American protocol apparently rules out bowing, or at least it reportedly did on the occasion of a Clinton "near-bow" to the emperor of Japan.
Interestingly, a columnist in the Saudi-backed Arabic paper Asharq Alawsat also took the gesture as a bow and appreciated the move.
"Obama wished to demonstrate his respect and appreciation of the personality of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has made one of the most important calls in the modern era, namely the call for inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars," wrote the columnist, Muhammah Diyab.
The video shows Obama dipping toward the king as G-20 leaders greet one another at the ExCel Centre in London.
By Ben Smith 04:06 PM
That was not a bow.
That was a grovel before the king of Mecca.
Yeah! THAT’S the ticket.
And those aren't Arabs either!
Except in Japanese culture, bowing is a sign of equality and respect, while in Saudi culture, it is a sign of subservience.
Hey Mr. 0bama (just can't call him president right now without vomit filling my throat) - you are a lying sack of dog turds. And you are not even smart enough to know when you are caught in a lie. Then again, it doesn't matter when 99.9% of the media will cover for you as best they can, and 53% of the US voting population are even dumber and more brainwashed than you.
I don't know what 0bama calls this, but it sure looks like a bow to me:
The people in the back row are astonished that POTUS
grovels to his Master.
It was definitely a bow. In the film I saw, Bambi walked over rapidly, pushing his way past the people near the Saudi king, and bowed deeply, extending his hands to grasp the king’s hand at the same time (as if he were going to kiss it).
It didn’t look to me as if the king gave him his hand, although the WH says that he did. But it wasn’t even a normal handshake - Bambi reached out with both hands while bowing.
Interestingly, I dug that obscure column up from a news search, and posted it here on FR. I'll bet Smith found it here.
That's not a bow.
It's attempted fellatio of the Sarkozy looking gent between the two Arab dudes.
Bump
Funny, the video shows Obama shaking the king’s hand with one hand and the other across his waist during the bow. All they are really doing here is throwing out a denial so that they can muddy the water. They know he bowed and this is tantamount to an admission. This is a furtherance of Bill Clinton’s policy of “deny, deny, deny.” If they deny it, it didn’t happen even though there is proof that it did.
Was there a ring to kiss? Maybe that’s it.
Wouldn’t a curtsy have been more appropriate?
Who are we to believe?
Obama or our lying eyes?
He kissed his hand
Fixed it
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