Bam on a bender (the bow)

NYPost ^ | 11-15-09 | Ginger Adams Otis

[STARWISE]

It wasn't what George Washington would have done, but President Obama had no problem breaking with tradition and bowing low before the Japanese emperor yesterday during a visit.

The president greeted Emperor Akihito at the front door of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo by bending at the waist and dropping his head in a deep bow -- a sign of respect and deference to the diminutive leader.

*snip*

Then-President Bill Clinton caused a ruckus when he slightly dropped his head before the same Japanese emperor in 1994.

White House protocol experts had rushed to defend Clinton's token head bob to Akihito -- which wouldn't even register next to Obama's nearly 90-degree bend.

The State Department doesn't have an official policy that prohibits American presidents from acts of obeisance before foreign leaders, but for more than 200 years, those types of formalities have been avoided.

Ronald Reagan's chief of protocol, Lenore Annenberg, sparked outrage by merely dipping her knees upon greeting England's Prince Charles.

First Lady Nancy Reagan was also forced to admit to bowing her head when she privately met with Queen Elizabeth II, but her press secretary hastened to tell reporters that "it was definitely not a curtsy."

Obama found himself in a similarly defensive position last April, when he bent at the waist before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G-20 meetings in London.

The White House said at the time that Obama had simply dipped low to shake the king's hand -- although Arab newspapers hailed it as a deferential bow.

There was no mistaking yesterday's greeting.

The president, who grew up among Asian traditions in Hawaii and Indonesia, first shook hands with Akihito -- whose father, Hirohito, OK'd the attack on Pearl Harbor -- before offering his sweeping bow.

[nascarnation]

I agree.
I think Baraq was basically a slacker/stoner in Hawaii.
It wasn’t until he hit the Ivy League that his ultra left persona was imprinted.

[This_far]

I see bent knees.

(he tripped on the rug)

Yes Mr President, it's real and it's SPECTACULAR!