obama bows again

[haldir]

It wouldn't surprise me if his advisers told him to do it this time. That way they can try to pass off the bow to the King in Saudi Arabia as just another faux pas. Not only is bowing in Japan just normal (as stated above he should have been careful to not bow more than the Emperor did) they are an important ally to the US. Let's not kid ourselves the Saudis are not our friend. They act like they are but remember they are the ones exporting Wahhabism in the rest of the muslim world. Not particularly friendly to the West and us infidels.

[rambone]

I counted like 9 or 10 bows from Obama in that clip. He looked like he was seizing for a minute.

[TopDog]

Obama just loves to bend over for foreign leaders. Seems he just cant help himself.

[SavageEagle]

Ok, flame me for this I guess, but I'm going to give him the benefit of ignorance on this one. Yea, I think he went to far in his deep bow, but then again, I think maybe he thought he was just being polite.

I went to try to find videos of other Presidents greeting Japanese leaders, but my search foo is weak today. Regardless, I'm sure this isn't an uncommon occurrence.

[Bigum1969]

That is all.

[Woodsman]

Maybe he is finally leading by example? That way the rest of us are used to being bent over every time he does something else.

Even if his bow of greeting was legitimate, he bowed too deeply. Never more than the other person.

[Bushido Devil Dog]

Originally Posted by dburkhead

On the one hand, in Japan a bow is not a "sign of subservience," it's simply a polite greeting--their culture's equivalent of a handshake. If you'll note, Akihito also bows slightly simultaneous with Obama's bow.

On the other, however, Obama's bow is much deeper than Akihito's and the depth of the bow does indicate relative status (or things like contrition--somebody who is apologizing for something will bow deeply).

In this case, I suspect it's more a case of Obama once again ignoring the protocol advisor (does he even realize there is, or was, one?) rather than a deliberate sign of subservience. Considering his past history of snubbing the British while bowing and scraping to the Saudi's I'd expect him to snub the Japanese rather than be subservient to them. Japan's relationship with the US has been entirely too friendly for Obama.

Dburkhead's post is dead on target. I have lived in Japan since 1998, speak and read the language (and of course shag the chicks ), so I know the culture fairly well. Obama was not wrong to bow to the Emperor. If and when I ever get my butt back to Indy and can make an event, I wonder how popular I'd be if I refused to shake hands with anyone there? Not very, because according to the local culture doing so would make me look like an arrogant a-hole...not the best impresion to give when meeting new people. You can't go into someone else's backyard and show no respect for the local culture/customs/social rules and expect to be treated warmly, POTUS or not.

He was not wrong to bow, but he DID bow far too deeply!! I don't recall ever seeing even regular Japanese people bowing this low to the Emperor here on Japanese TV!! The level Obama went down to is the "Oh I really screwed up/I'm not worthy/I am pond scum!!!" level. Notice that he barely moved for the Empress. Considering how far he went down for the Emperor, did he polish the Imperial 'sword' while he was down there, too? Maybe we should start calling him President Okama (= )...???
The feminazi's would be already be marching their unshorn combat-booted legs over to the White House to protest the unequalness of his bows if Barry wasn't their idealo(Il)logical darling...

Either his diplomatic protocol officers suck, or the Teleprompter in Chief is going out of his way to debase himself to the rest of the world's big cheeses...

[Bigum1969]

Puff the emperor's pickle!!!



That made my night!

[evansvillethompsongunner]

To everyone in this thread -

{{citation needed}}

Since when has it been American custom to not observe the customs of other nations?

[BloodEclipse]

Originally Posted by TopDog

Obama just loves to bend over for foreign leaders. Seems he just cant help himself.

Frank Marshall Davis taught him well.

“The National Enquirer now suggests Barack Obama had an underage, gay affair with a pedophile. Yup. That Frank Marshall Davis guy Barry says was his good friend? Turns out he was a perv of the first order and liked young boys.