Obama's lost face

American Thinker ^ | December 27, 2009 | J.R. Dunn

[neverdem]

Why did Chinese premier Wen Jiabao choose to publicly humiliate Barack Obama at Copenhagen? In their eyes, and those of much of the world, he has lost face, and with it, power and influence. While getting widespread play overseas, this story has been kept very quiet by our disinterested, nonpartisan media (I haven't seen it mentioned in any major U.S. outlet).

After promising to meet the Messiah at 7:00 p.m., Premier Wen stiffed him in favor of a meeting with the leaders of India, South Africa, and Brazil. Rather than wait, a no-doubt infuriated Obama stalked into the room in question and demanded, "Are you ready to see me, Premier Wen?" No word on Wen's reaction, though he did submit to a discussion on the spot that evidently sealed the release of the immortal and glorious Copenhagen Quasi-Agreement on Climate Change.

So with Barack Obama, we've reached the point where the leader of record of the most powerful state in history has become a man you can casually stand up. But the question remains, why?

There are a number of reasons why the Chinese might take a cavalier attitude toward an American leader. China is the chief foreign holder of American debt, which may well have created an impression of the U.S. as a beggar nation on the level of a failed African republic. (I strongly suspect that words were exchanged on this topic during Obama's recent visit to China, though we're unlikely ever to learn about them in detail.)

There's also the matter of race. As is true of most Asians, the Chinese sense of racial superiority is cultural and innate. This is a people who refer to Caucasians as "ghost shadows"; what they think of American blacks is probably best not dwelt upon.

Then there's the deep aura of unseriousness that Obama has generated around himself. Though essentially incalculable, this factor is undeniable and will grow in importance and impact as time passes.

But there's one event in particular that very likely played a part -- the fact that, only a few weeks before, Obama publicly and notoriously bowed to the emperor of Japan.

Japan and China have a lengthy history, very little of which can be termed benign. They have always been rivals, often acting at cross purposes and usually at sword's point. But the past century of Sino-Japanese relations has been little short of horrendous.

Japan's militarist government occupied Manchuria in 1931 and proceeded to menace the Republic of China for several years afterward. In June 1937, as a result of a contrived confrontation known as the "Marco Polo Bridge Incident", Japan escalated to open conquest. Occupying Nanking in December of that year, the Japanese army carried out a city-wide massacre that in little more than a month resulted in over 250,000 deaths. So brutal were Japanese actions that they could not, in a pre-Auschwitz world, be referred to directly in news accounts. Sixty years passed before the story was completely told in Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking (Chang, a less than stable personality in the first place, was so deeply affected that she later committed suicide, after telling friends that she could not get the images of the killings out of her mind.)

For nearly a decade Japan occupied vast areas of China, a period marked by further massacres, atrocities, and casual violations of the human spirit. It's safe to say that, but for the even viler activities of the Nazis, the Japanese occupation would stand as one of the peak moments of human cruelty in the modern era. (It's undeniable that Japanese human experiments in their Chinese and Manchurian prison camps were fully as loathsome as those of the Nazis.)

Though the Chinese don't discuss the matter, their attitude toward Japan and the Japanese can easily be imagined. Particularly since Japan, unlike Germany, has only in recent years reached the point of admitting to "irregularities" in its occupation, much less issuing an apology or offering reparations.

So here comes Obama, as ignorant of all this as a little lamb.

Many will recall the uproar that surrounded Ronald Reagan's 1985 visit to a German cemetery at Bitburg, instigated by the existence of SS graves within line of sight of the ceremony. The attitude of the Chinese to Obama's bow must be similar. From that point of view, Wen's behavior should be taken as a rebuke, not to the United States so much as to Obama personally.

Which only goes to underline the reason why diplomatic protocol exists in the first place -- to exclude through ritual actions all possibilities that error, misunderstanding, or personal pique might interfere with matters of state. Obama has yet to learn this. His insistence on winging it, on reinventing established practice on his own terms, is potentially far more than simply embarrassing. It could be actively dangerous. His refusal to go by the rules may well have cost him the opportunity to pose as Savior of Gaia in Copenhagen. It may cost him -- and the country -- far more at some future time.

J.R. Dunn is consulting editor of American Thinker.

[Huskrrrr]

Solid!

[gov_bean_ counter]

Lost his face and had his a$$ handed to him...

[FARS]

Thanks! Great one.

Posted on http://antimullah.com

[john in springfield]

As is true of most Asians, the Chinese sense of racial superiority is cultural and innate. This is a people who refer to Caucasians as "ghost shadows"; what they think of American blacks is probably best not dwelt upon.

Really? I had no idea.

Then there's the deep aura of unseriousness that Obama has generated around himself. Though essentially incalculable, this factor is undeniable and will grow in importance and impact as time passes.

Gee, that's a nice way of saying that people are figuring out that Obama is a

But there's one event in particular that very likely played a part -- the fact that, only a few weeks before, Obama publicly and notoriously bowed to the emperor of Japan.

Obama's CHICKENNSSSSSS... comin' HOME... to ROOST!!!!!

[mkjessup]

"Why did Chinese premier Wen Jiabao choose to publicly humiliate Barack Obama at Copenhagen?"
Because Dear Leader squats to pee?

Not any more, thanks to 'GO GIRL' LOL

[TexasRedeye]

...China is the chief foreign holder of American debt, which may well have created an impression of the U.S. as a beggar nation ...

This is what is really bad about Obama's bumbling, man-child approach on the International stage. He used it successfully here in the U.S. to get enough votes of the stupid and/or naive people to elect him POTUS. He has reducing this country's standing in the world. Unfortunately, it may never recover.

[American Constitutionalist]

That’s a good one Jim Rob....

[American Constitutionalist]

"Why did Chinese premier Wen Jiabao choose to publicly humiliate Barack Obama at Copenhagen?"
Because he deserved it ?

BTW ? I guess Janet Napolitano of HLS will place Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on their " watch list " now for publicly humiliating our dear leader Obama..

[ajay_kumar]

The main reason Obama won was because Bush43 was so unpopular with ratings in low 20’s. Many of my republican friends were fade up with Iraq war with the drain of treasure and blood.
And McCain was construed as continuation of Bush with his 100 year war stupid remark.

Obama was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Of course Acorn and black voters were a big factor also. He will go down in history as another Carter or worse.

[chiefqc]

He passed carter the first time his lips moved and re-enforces it each and ever time they move.

[Enterprise]

"Because Dear Leader squats to pee?"

That's because Michelle has ordered the removal of all urinals in the White House.

[Liz]

.....a frightening new side of Obama....casting aspersions on the very genius of America because he can't get his way is cause for alarm.

O rips the American way
Charles Hurt/ Inside Washington, NY POST
FR Posted 12/25/2009 by Cincinatus

EXCERPT Increasingly unloved and ridiculed from both sides, a new and embittered President Obama is emerging ............ The humiliating causes of his frustration are obvious: the farce in Copenhagen and the difficult birth of health-care legislation in Congress.

In an interview on the eve of yesterday's health-care ram-through, he accused Republicans of abuse for employing the very rules that make the Senate the "world's greatest deliberative body."

"If this pattern continues, you're going to see an inability on the part of America to deal with big problems in a very competitive world, and other countries are going to start running circles around us," Obama warned.

What he is saying is that other governments around the world -- those tyrannical states that do not share our respect for the minority -- are better forms of government, better equipped to compete in this modern world.

This is a frightening new side of Barack Obama.

[Enterprise]

“Are you now ready to talk with me, Premier Wen?” he was reported to have shouted. “Are you now ready? Premier Wen, are you now ready to talk with me?”

"Just a moment", said Wen, "I have to finish talking to the servants, maids, butlers, valets, janitors, and shoe shine boys."

[Enterprise]

Obama publicly and notoriously bowed to the emperor of Japan.

At the time, I knew that this didn't particularly impress the Japanese people. But I KNEW the Chinese would not forget it!

[hershey]

Really interesting read, thanks. World leaders see Obama for what he is and treat him and the US accordingly. Actions do indeed have consequences, and the idiots who voted for Obama with the idea that it ‘would be nice to let them have a turn’ are reaping the results every single day. I suppose democrats figure they’ll ram through illegal immigration ‘reform’ and suddenly they’ll have 50 million more votes to make up for any remorseful voters who suddenly regain their senses. Sadly, we began this with Carter and Clinton. Appearances, feelings matter, but not substance. It’s fine to elect sociopaths, communists, thugs, liars, etc..as long as they’re democrats and the MSM is in bed with them.

[Stultis]

The shocking irresponsibility of American journalism is beyond intolerable. I must have seen a dozen news reports on this incident, AND NOT ONE MSM outlet (sole exception being the decidedly non-MSM Wall Street Journal Editorial Report) so much as hinted at the snubbing of the American president. That is not one revealed the fact that the meeting of developing nations chaired by the Chinese Premier was held when the Premier was supposed to be meeting with Obama. Instead, every story spun Obama's "audacity" in invading the meeting as though it was some kind of triumph on his part.

I guarantee you that not one in five hundred American citizens knows simple truth of what happened in this incident.

The media is actively conspiring to keep from the American public matters of unquestionable public import, solely when and because they may embarass Obama or disturb his agenda. They've not only cast aside their supposed duty to inform the American public, they're overtly subverting that duty.

I no longer believe it's the lawyers who should be killed first.

[esquirette]

“I no longer believe it’s the lawyers who should be killed first.”

Amen.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

I fear Obama’s weakness is going to get us involved in a major war. We are seen as a pussy nation who can be pushed around. This isn’t good. This will inspire our enemies to adventurism and this could only mean border changing and wars. This wouldn’t have happened to Hillary or Palin or even, McCain. Obama is going to be tested and the tests are starting now. All that was the famous Pax Americana will be tossed under the bus and set up the world for another bloodbath—a Third World War of sorts. How many Americans will die because of the failures of Bush and the MSM? I hope I am wrong—I hope its just a tin foil hat thing and the world will right itself==but, I keep getting the impression it is 1936 again.

[PJ-Comix]

For some reason, I keep thinking of a certain SNL skit: “Do you want to do sex to me?”

[Caipirabob]

As is true of most Asians, the Chinese sense of racial superiority is cultural and innate. This is a people who refer to Caucasians as "ghost shadows"; what they think of American blacks is probably best not dwelt upon.

I have heard this, too, in no uncertain terms. This, coupled with the catastrophic loss of face by Obama has got to be far more devastating that anyone in the Obama regime can comprehend.

The Chinese have little doubt with whom they are dealing with and will proceed appropriately: