[AmericanInTokyo]

Good point, the "using the Emperor as a mere prop" angle. I would not put it past Obongo and his crew to have done such a foolish thing.

I would personally, however, kind of have mixed emotions on that.

If that got full play, it would embarrass Obama royally. Good.

But as a result, it would probably start a horrendous US-Japan brushfire that might burn out of control, doing nothing but damage. Bad.

I would not want 60 years of good US-Japan cooperation, with 47,000 of our troops here, be upset and ruined just over some stupid act by an idiot president who is going to be long gone and forgotten by Japan three years from now. I would have to think long and hard about fanning *those* flames! I hope you can appreciate my concern. I want to be anti-Obama and yet preserve general US-Japan relations at the same time.

[AnAmericanMother]

Absolutely.

Bad presidents come and go, good relations with a major ally in the Far East are a long term investment.

It makes me mad as fire though. How stupid must the Japanese think we are, to elect such a fool? Given their interest in courtesy, right conduct, and what the Scots call "douce" - the word's hard to translate but it means quiet, discreet, sober - Obama's making us look VERY bad.