OH NOES!!! Obama dipped his head slightly to the Emperor of Japan, and the lil’ fella didn’t return the bow!
Judging by some of the reaction, you’d think it was unprecedented for the President of the United States to make an unmistakably obsequious show of subservience to a foreign dignitary. Well, that’s where you’re wrong, wingnut!
This is hardly the first time an American President has groveled before royalty. Check this out:
See? Obama was just adhering to the time-honored precedent established a whole 6 months ago by Obama.
Never mind that lots of other world leaders have managed to shake hands with Emperor Akihito without bruising their foreheads on their kneecaps. What do they know? As the White House has explained:
A senior administration official said President Barack Obama was simply observing protocol when he bowed to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arriving at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday.
“I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base,” the official said. “He observes protocol.”
So what if it’s a protocol that no other world leader, including Akihito himself, observes? So what if back in ‘94, Bill Clinton got in trouble with those right-wingers at the New York Times for even hinting at a bow to Akihito? What are you, Captain Protocol all of a sudden?
Everybody’s piling on. Jake Tapper of ABC News writes:
An old friend — an academic with expertise about the Japanese Empire, and in general a supporter of President Obama — sends me the following note, relating to photographs of President Obama bowing to Emperor Akihito of Japan…
“His bow is neither (1) unprecedented nor (2) a sign of cultural understanding.
“At their 1971 meeting in Alaska, the first visit of a Japanese Emperor to America, President Nixon bowed and referred to Emperor Hirohito and his wife repeatedly as ‘Your Imperial Majesties.’
“Yet, (and?) Nixon gets the bow right. Slight arch from the waist, hands at his side…
“The bow as [Obama] performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms….The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.”
Yeah, well… Who cares anyway? You guys are just a bunch of racists. Shut up.
I said shut up!
In other presidential-mistakes-that-aren’t-mistakes news: Past Obama undermines Present Obama on civilian trials for terrorists.
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Lol, yes it seems the apology tour continues sinc ein Japan the lower you bow the greater the apology. If they tell you it is procedure……no, see link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U6fL7Y4BZA&feature=player_embedded
It’s laughable the way the administration tried to explain this like it’s accepted diplomatic protocol when dealing with the Japanese. I was never personally stationed in Japan, but I knew a lot of guys who were and the whole bowing thing is very precise – even if he was trying to be diplomatic he got it wrong.
First, you either both bow or you don’t bow at all. The emperor (as an American I consciously refuse to capitalize anything having to do with ‘divine’ royalty) is most assuredly NOT bowing. He’s doing the time-honored head bob/handshake they usually employ when dealing with Westerners. It’s kind of a middle ground that we’ve all agreed on as being acceptable to both traditions.
Second, by bowing so much freaking lower it’s a sign of subservience. That’s exactly how anyone from Japan, Korea, or China is going to interpret it anyways. Diplomacy is supposed to be all about how you’re perceived, and this posture literally screams weakness. He might as well have a ‘kick me’ sign on his ass.
Third, you NEVER break eye contact during the bow. It’s considered a sign of disrespect, possible deception, and again, weakness.
So he’s either a simpering little weasel or unconscionably inept at even the simplest and most easy to understand diplomatic nuances. If a bunch of Marines on leave with a ten minute briefing can nail down the concept of the bow, you’d think Mr. Space Ponies could figure it out.
Reminds me of those drinking birds that dip their beak in a glass of water. Remember those? Maybe someone will come out with soemthing similar with Obama bowing. It would look so nice sitting on the window shelf with the Chia-Obama.
Oh Scott…I think you expected a brain inside that head. (After all he did write a book.)
Silly silly Scott, you should know better by now.
“Reminds me of those drinking birds that dip their beak in a glass of water”
If it had been Bush, the thing would be i stores already. But I live in Jersey, where the Dems wet their beaks all the time, and no one’s come out with an appropriate product yet.
I’ve always heard you’re not supposed to attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. Yet this is Obama we’re talking about, here. Why can’t it be both? The BEST you can say about Obama is that he’s incompetent.
Haven’t they hired a protocol chief yet? Oh wait, the protocol czar is probably a Chicago crony whose expertise is beer summits.
Again, I was taught in ELEMENTARY school that Americans didn’t bow to anyone. How this moron has yet to figure it out, I would love to know.
Obama can bow all he wants so long as “the flag dips to no earthly king” (http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2008/09/rose.php)
we need an bowing obama bobblehead. this kenyan born idiot has put a kick me sign on the united states.
Obama is so witty, intelligent, and charismatic that he doesn’t need advice on American patriotic ceremony. He doesn’t need advice on the protocol of international diplomacy. He doesn’t need military advice. He doesn’t need public relations advice. He doesn’t need political advice. He doesn’t need advice on medical economics. He doesn’t need advice on business employment practices. He is his own best advisor, and he follows his own advice exactly.
Whoops. Anonymous was me. Just got my computer back from being repaired and didn’t notice my name not showing up automatically.
Pales in comparison to the gaffes of the worldly, diplomacy expert, aka Our Dear Leader. This guy’s supposed to be smooth?
LOL. That’s something the real James Woods would probably say (if you are not JW the actor).
Little known story, he alerted the FBI to the identities of the original 9/11 hijackers after he took a training flight a month before 9/11 with them and observed them behaving erratically.
the japanese press opted to not print the photo of the wildly inappropriate bow to save everyone any further embarrassment but the whitehouse insists that the oh-so-worldly barack knows japanese custom better than the japanese people… sounds about right.
Best bumper sticker I saw yesterday said it all. In the corner was the blue symbol that is synonomous with Obama. The phrase said…Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot.
I thought he was just picking up something off of the floor? I mean, that is what he was doing last time, right? What an asshat. And people though Bush was an idiot.
I saw those bumper stickers about Texas missing their village idiot. I believe so far that Obama has beaten Bush in that category.
Well if it is him FS they’re gonna take away all those awards, and nominations because he’s hanging around here. You know it’s kinda funny. The actors/celebs that are “smart” lean center-right. James Woods, Dolph Lundgren, etc. Say what you want about Dolph’s movies but that guy was an MIT sciencey scholarship guy with perfect scores to get accepted, and I believe that same goes for Woods. The rest of the Hollywood retards? Guess which way they lean.
Alright so it wasn’t kinda funny, but I have the flu or something so give me a break. Here’s a funny story though. If I have the swine flu I’m gonna spend tomorrow walking around Woodfield Mall. If I’m going I’m taking a lot of you with me.
imho bowing to another human being is never appropriate. he should take up bowling – I’ll bet he’d be good at it.
Once again, Michael Ramirez sums it up perfectly:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/PhotoPopup.aspx?id=512640
@ Anonymous: As I said last time he did this (and will repeat next time he does it), stop expecting him to know what Americans do around royalty! It’s not like he’s an American!
And by the way, tch, stop judging him before you know what is going on in the picture! He is not BOWING to the Japanese emperor. He is merely having him check out his head lice. Jeeze, you all. Huge fuss over a tiny hygeine issue.
Scott F.
Nov 16th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
—————-
Marry me!!
Great, now mEEEE and I are going to have to have a cage match for Scott F.’s affections.
Somebody start making gallons of Jell-o.
This BO, he goes out into the world and acts the obsequious little houseboy, then comes back home and takes it out on us.
According to my boyfriend (who is Japanese), the emperor is not allowed to bow. So what he’s doing in the photo is showing significant respect for Obama. If only the Chosen One hadn’t gone and ruined it by being an idiot…
Seriously, I have a masters in international business, and I know better than to do something like that. He has A BILLION ADVISERS to make sure he doesn’t screw up, and it’s not like no one pointed out his past screwups.
There you go, Obama. Make me the Czar of Not Looking Like an Ass in Other Countries. I’ll even quit paying my taxes if it’ll make you feel better.
The White House is now saying the all this bowing and scraping by Obama is the ‘diplomacy of deference’. So were they lying when they said he didn’t bow to the Saudi prince? Was he not using his ‘diplomacy of deference’ then?