Back in April of this year, our Commander in Chief bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets.
The Washington Times called the alleged bow a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate" and said it violated centuries of American tradition of not deferring to royalty. The Weekly Standard, meanwhile, noted that American protocol apparently rules out bowing.
At the time an Obama aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity, advosed inquiring press that "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Later WHite House press questioned the White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, if, in fact, the President had bowed to the Saudi Prince and Gibbs stumbled in his attempt to articulate a denial..."No, I think he bent over with both, to shake -- with both hands to shake his hand."
At the time I was willing to take a pass on this incident, attributing our Commander in Chief's inappropriate deference to the Saudi potentate to inexperience.
And then..............
...some 6 months later on November 14th, during his recent trip to the middle east, President Barack Obama bowed low to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and then added a number of smaller bows, before lunching with the royal couple.Obama, who is in the midst of a trip to Asia, went to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo for a rare meeting with Akihito.
As the photographic evidence this time did not provide the White House with and room for denial the Obama machine advised that our Commander in Chief has greeted the Japanese Emperor in a traditional manner according to protocol.
Any reservations I may entertained about Oama's "nivete’ on the world stage and his ‘not-ready-for-prime-time’ administration failure to understand the intricacies or symbols of world diplomacy were answered with the following video.
Not to mention the fact that, coming two days after Veterans Day, our Presidents bow to the Emperor of Japan was a slap in the face of those surviving veterans of World War II who participated in the battles with Japan in the Pacific.
Pictured in the above video are the Japanese Emperor meeting with the following world leaders....note there are 47 handshakes and only one, really deep bow.
November 14, 2009
President of the United States, Barack Obama
President of the United States, Barack Obama
July 15, 2009
Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Timothy Keating
July 15, 2009
Lt. Governor ofHawaii, James Aiona Jr.
July 9, 2009
Premiere of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty
June 18, 2009
President of the Phillipines, Gloria Arroyo
January 26, 2009
First Lady of Bulgaria, Zorka Parvanova
October 22, 2008
Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh
January 23, 2009
Prime Minister of Latvia, Ivars Godmanis
July 10, 2008
Prime Minister ofCanada,Stephen Harper
June 19,2008
President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev
June 10, 2008
Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen
June 5, 2008
President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul
May 23, 2008
Pesident of Laos, Choummaly Sayasone
May 9, 2008
President of China, Hu Jintao
May 7, 2008
First Lady of China, Liu Yongqing
May 7, 2008
President of China, Hu Jintao
May 7, 2008
President of China, Hu Jintao
April 21, 2008
President of South Korea, Lee Myung Bak
April 21, 2008
Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša
April 11, 2008
Prime Minister ofFrance, Francois Fillon
March 17, 2008
President of Peru, Alan Garcia
February 27, 2008
Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert
November 28, 2007
President of Vietnam, Nguyen Minh Triet
November 26, 2007
President of Vietnam, Nguyen Minh Triet
October 5, 2007
King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf
August 30,2007
Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel
August 25,2007
President of the IAAF, Lamine Diack
June 9, 2007
President of South Korea, Roh Moo-Hyun
May 26, 2007
President of Lithuania, ValdasAdamkus
April 17,2007
President of Pakistan, Asif AliZardari
April 14,2007
King of Jordan, Abdullah II
April 12, 2007
Primier of China, Wen Jiabao
March 29,2007
Queen of Sweden, Silvia Sommerlath
February 21,2007
Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney
February 14,2007
President ofCzech Republic, Vaclav Klaus
November 27, 2006
President ofIndonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
November 27, 2006
President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
July 6, 2006
President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai
June 13, 2006
King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej
November 30, 2005
King Of Morocco, Mohammed VI
November 28, 2005
King of Morocco, Mohammed VI
November 22, 2005
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin
March 28, 2005
First Lady of France, Bernadette Chirac
December 6, 2004
President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika
April 21, 2004
President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akaev
October 15, 2003
First Lady of Mexico, Martha Sahagun de Fox
February 21, 2003
President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai
November 14, 2009
President of the United States, Barack Obama
Make of it what you will...
Peter J. Mahon
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