Posted on 11/23/2009 1:35:14 PM PST by markomalley
President Obama's bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito in Tokyo earlier this month ignited anger from some conservatives who complained, in the words of blogger Donald Douglass, that the United States "now willingly prostrates itself before the rest of the world."
Now the president is responding kind of. The Atlantic quotes "a US government official who was on the trip" who says the president was left "speechless" by the controversy.
"Obama's attitude was, this is an elderly gentleman in a country where this kind of greeting is customary," said the official. "It does not seem extraordinary to show this kind of gesture to him."
"The Fox News poll said that 67 percent of Americans thought [the bow] was a good thing for him to have done," the official continued. "When the president heard that some people had complained, I'd characterize his reaction as: The notion that the United States is somehow humbling or humiliating itself by showing respect for a local custom, when it is transparently the most powerful country in the world, leaves me speechless."
As criticism of the president for the bow bubbled up, media outlets noted that anger over what some see as excessive presidential deference to a foreign leader is nothing new. President George W. Bush was criticized for holding the hand of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, while Presidents Clinton and Nixon took heat for bows or near-bows to the Japanese emperor. Mr. Obama has also been criticized for genuflecting to Abdullah.
that attitude that the bamster has, bowing to an elderly gentleman , head of a country, etc..... is PRECISELY UNPRESIDENTIAL
Hirohito died at the beginning of 1989. Wherever he is now, he’s probably not having anyone bow to him. His son, the current emperor, never got a chance to be a god.
Well, Nixon appears to be greeting as an equal.
Obama appears to be ridiculously over bending. I'm surprises he didn't split his pants. At the same time, the Emperor gives a slight nodding bow. Obama should have done the same (like Nixon did).
Obama simply has no idea about social situations. I think he's autistic.
Agreed.
Speechless? More like clueless.
With all due respect, I think you need your eyes checked. Please take another look:
Obama is bowing at a MUCH steeper angle.
This also fits with his earlier denial of his bow to the Sheik in Arabland. Put simply, we now have a POTUS that doesn't comprehend what he is doing to our country's prestige and position. Disgusting and ignorant.
I was referring to the Nixon/Emperor photo I saw at http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1109/The_Nixon_bow.html. Obama not only bowed from the waist, he bowed his head. He is overwhlemed by the world stage.
Sorry. My mistake.
Let’s be precise.
The bow, and many of the other gaffes his team has let him commit, raises this question:
“He can’t get the little things right, the diplomatic forms of communication that keep terrible things from happening. These are basics, and things that other countries expect a superpower to get right as an absolute minimum.
If you can’t get this right, then what of the more complicated aspects of foreign policy?”
Holder’s testimony showed more of the whole ‘amateur night’ phenomenon:
“[Paraphrasing]If KSM gets a trial in a criminal court, does Osama Bin Laden then get Mirandized?”
Holder: “It Depends . . .”
This is the Attorney General of the Most Powerful Country on Earth. It’s top lawyer and prosecuting attorney.
That he had not contemplated and made a statement about this very thing, and to not have already formulated new policies for how US combatants/Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s) should now carry out their responsibilities as both warfighter and law enforcement officers, shows an ineptitude that on its face calls for impeachment due to incompetence.
At the VERY least the Bar should review his license to practice law.
Were an engineer to commit an equivalent act of ineptitude, they would most certainly come up for review by a state licensing board, for example.
Bottom line - Nobody in the Admin save for the military officers occupying JCS and Pentagon responsibilities are qualified for their jobs.
He’s being given lectures in basic macroeconomics by the Russians, Chinese, and Japanese now. He came back mouthing platitudes about how debt might undermine the economy. That wasn’t him talking - that was the Chinese, who are legitimately scared about going down with our bad paper, talking.
That’s a lie, he nodded, he didn’t bow.
Nah, he bowed. Not by much but he bowed.
Your defence of Obama is weak at best.
Are there not different levels of greetings in the American culture?
If someone were to see one relative greet their Aunt with a full tongue kiss that left her speechless and horribly insulted, would you then say ‘Well, one of her other nephews kissed her hello” when the other nephew gave her a peck on the cheek?
Of course not, because the two, while technically still “a kiss”, carry much more meaning due to the particulars involved.
What Nixon did was akin to a peck on the cheek, a polite and warm greeting. Obama frenched the old guy.
So yawn away, but if you can’t see that...
My ‘defense’ of Obama? What a boring liar you are. Self important and illiterate. Yawn.
Everyone on this thread is fully aware that both Nixon and Obama bowed to the Emperor of Japan.
Everyone on this thread has also elucidated you as to the many differences between the two; Nixon and the Emperor treated each other as equals. Obama acted subservient to the Emperor. Everyone has been clear on this.
So why the yawning? What else needs to be explained about the differences between the two scenarios? Enlighten us.
Yawn. Truly a boring issue. No traction, no meaning just boring.
Not to the Japanese.
So? Are you Japanese? Yawn.
No, but that’s irrelevant.
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