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.

[PJ-Comix]

General Douglas MacArthur had the right idea on how to treat a Japanese Emperor. This pic below was taken when Hirohito met with MacArthur almost a year after the Occupation of Japan began. Hirohito came to MacArthur, not the other way around. The publicly released photo was quite shocking to the Japanese. No bowing or scraping to the emperor. MacArthur was dressed fairly casually and note his casual body language. This photo caused Hirohito to lose his aura in the eyes of the Japanese. Yet years later a clueless American president bows low to an emperor.

[rellimpank]

—bflr—

[altair]

My business experience in Asia (20+ years) tells me the worst insult out there you can inflict on some one is to make them lose face. Worse than a physical attack.

Big time. Face is everything. Obama lost it big time with the bow to the Heisei Emperor and ...

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.

On a scale of 1 to 10 in loss of face where bowing to the Emperor of Japan is 1 (sigh), this ranks 10. Total capitulation.

I cannot believe he either had advisers who let him do this, or he ignored his advisers and did it anyway. The Chinese, Japanese and pretty much anyone in Asia will never take him or us seriously again. Never.

The war with China is over. They won, we lost. They own our debt, we have no face, we have utterly no standing with them. The last protection we have, sadly, is our nuclear arsenal. Look for the Nobel Peace Prize winner to unilaterally disarm us next.

I told you all eight years ago after the 9/11 attacks that the real national enemy was China. I'll make another prediction. When history books are written about the fall of the US Empire, this date will be chosen as to when it became apparent.

Obama is no Carter. He is a Nero.

[Fireone]

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

Except the one that (he)she uses!

[PJ-Comix]

Does anyone know if the Chinese leaders are aware of that SNL skit of Obama meeting with the Chinese president? I am sure the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. know about it. Plus that skit is accessible via the Web.

[brooklin]

With all the borrowing that is and will take place, China owns us now. They can ‘dictate’ what we will do to some extent.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Obama is a thug dictator. He is also a coward, and it is about time we expose this rat ba$tard to the general populace.

[altair]

Maybe you can ping the Japanese expat FReeper list. I don’t think very many people understand how bad this really is.

[KJC1]

bookmark

[stephenjohnbanker]

“Solid”

[RoadTest]

He’s an incompetent nobody in a glorious position, running it like an incompetent nobody.

[altair]

Does anyone know if the Chinese leaders are aware of that SNL skit of Obama meeting with the Chinese president?

It's likely, but I can't say for sure. It wouldn't matter much anyway. Actions Speak Louder Than Words and the SNL skit is only words.

I'll bet you every penny^H^H^H^H^Hrupee I earn for the rest of my life against nothing that the Chinese leader offered no reaction and inside was laughing himself almost to death.

I really have to hand it to Obama in a way. Every time I think things cannot get any worse, he comes up with something ... 2012 for a new administration is too late.

[stevie_d_64]

He certainly got “thumped” by Thumper over there...

[Canedawg]

“Why did Chinese premier Wen Jiabao choose to publicly humiliate Barack Obama at Copenhagen?”
*****

Arinsky’s Rooz

[stephenjohnbanker]

“.. 2012 for a new administration is too late. “

I have posted this as well. The question du jour is how to remove him from office, before he takes our whole country down? That is his goal.

[Christian4Bush]

bump

[stevie_d_64]

The problem is he doesn’t fiddle...He apologizes...;-)

[Chode]

I'm ready for my Close-Up Mr.Wen

[altair]

The question du jour is how to remove him from office, before he takes our whole country down? That is his goal.

That's the unmistakable conclusion. Have you ever read Janet L. Morris/David Drake's Active Measures? That was about a liberal politician getting turned into a KGB asset in his college days and eventually winding up to become President. Eerily similar to what's going on now.

[Loud Mime]

Obama is the worst thing that could have happened to this nation at the worst time. I've bought a couple of these books for my "favorite" Obama liberals. Just try to read the first thirty pages without going into a rage....it can't be done. Maybe this will wake them up!