To be fair, I think those are just Chinese-style shirts, not Mao-style jackets. They are often given to foreign dignitaries to wear.
(I think the bowing in Japan, though, must indicate that O. didn’t read the thick briefing books the State Dept. give every president before he goes overseas.
(But if not, why not? Was it too much work? Is that how he operates? Or did he think he knew it all already? Or that he could wing it?
(Certainly, that and other gaffes, as in Saudi Arabia, suggest that he’s not paying attention to what other people tell him about foreign customs...)
“But if not, why not? Was it too much work? Is that how he operates? Or did he think he knew it all already? Or that he could wing it?”
Perhaps he thinks he is intigrating himself with them. That if he eats enough dirt, they’ll accept him as one of them. He’s like an actor in that sense. Actors lick the arse of politicians and the dictators, hoping ot be taken in, and then keep at it. Zero strikes me as desperate to joing hte “Big Boys Club” and maybe feels this is the way to do it.
Bush and Putin did as well:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_THosNXNQORw/SKAsQixwTGI/AAAAAAAADWg/eAGvMw9kWig/s400/bush-putin_China.jpg
He may have been too busy giving a “shout-out” before he went outside to shoot some hoops.
