"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Friday, April 10, 2009

WASH. TIMES LOOKS AT THE STORY OF OBAMA'S BOW

After a week or so of the MSM being silent about president Obama's bow to the Saudi king, The Washington Times has addressed the issue:
In a shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate, President Obama bowed to Saudi King Abdullah at the Group of 20 summit in London last week.

Mr. Obama later said in Strasbourg, France, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect." Symbolism is important in world affairs. By bending over to show greater respect to Islam, the U.S. president belittled the power and independence of the United States.

The bow was an extraordinary protocol violation. Such an act is a traditional obeisance befitting a king's subjects, not his peer. There is no precedent for U.S. presidents bowing to Saudi or any other royals. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt shook hands with Saudi King Abdulaziz in February 1945. Granted, Mr. Roosevelt was wheelchair-bound, but former President Dwight D. Eisenhower shook hands when he first met King Saud in January 1957. Mr. Obama's bow to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques does not help his image with those who believe he is secretly a Muslim, and why he chose to bow only to the Saudi King and not to any other royals remains unexplained.

No Americans of any station are required to bow to royalty. It is one of the pillars of American exceptionalism that our country rejected traditional caste divisions. Article I Section 9 of the Constitution forbids titles of nobility and stipulates that no officeholder or government employee may "accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state" without the consent of Congress. Judith Martin wrote in her Miss Manners column in 2001 that bowing "is not an ordinary bit of foreign etiquette one might adopt out of courtesy when traveling. ... Americans do not properly bow to any royalty. We show respect for other countries' leaders the same way we do to our own."

Press outlets have been conspicuously silent on Mr. Obama's bow. Compare this to the New York Times' reaction when former President Bill Clinton inclined a bit too far when meeting Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1994. According to the Gray Lady, "The image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent president, and the Emperor of Japan." Former President George W. Bush received thorough press attention after being photographed holding hands with then-Crown Prince Abdullah in 2005. "It clearly strikes a nerve," CBS News reported, while David Letterman satirized Mr. Bush as "officially the gayest president since Lincoln." These two cases were tame compared to Mr. Obama's full-out genuflection, which makes us wonder why it is not worthy of comment.

Mr. Obama is proving that one can be elected president without knowing how to behave presidentially. His servile gesture was fully fitting with the tone of his humility tour of Europe. In his eagerness to be loved personally, the president has lost sight of the fact that the leader of the free world also must be respected.
Now that's really strong stuff there. As far as I know, none of the presidents of European countries who use that kind of political system bowed to the king, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them have policies similar to the US on how to greet monarchies, which if so would make them smarter than Obama on the subject.

3 comments:

DailyDealAddict said...

Obama, the President of the United States and leader of the free world, bows to a Saudi King who represents a despotic regime noted for its’ human rights violations, a birthplace of terrorists, a symbol of everything that is an antithesis to our system of government, and it’s no big deal?

I consider myself fortunate to have been born in a republic. I appreciate that as a citizen of a republic, I need not bow to any man or woman. This gesture by Obama should rankle every citizen for when Obama bowed as President of the United States, we all bowed.

He did bow, see the video from the latest angle:

http://www.butasforme.com/2009/04/10/i-am-a-republican-and-i-bow-to-no-man/

Always On Watch said...

This morning on FNC, Geraldo explained away the bow as simply a cultural matter: BHO grew up in a Moslem nation and was showing respect to his elders.

And the anchors of that FNC show (Fox and Friends?) nodded in agreement.

However, the story doesn't wash.

Glad to see that the Washington Times has addressed this bow, albeit a week late.

Reliapundit said...

AOW WROTE:

This morning on FNC, Geraldo explained away the bow as simply a cultural matter: BHO grew up in a Moslem nation and was showing respect to his elders.

And the anchors of that FNC show (Fox and Friends?) nodded in agreement."

I ASK: why didn't barack BIN obama
give the Queen the same bow, then!?!?

ANSWER:
obama is either a muslim or a dhimmi, take your pick.

However, the story doesn't wash.