President Obama Bows Again
November 14th, 2009
By Tom Carter
Well, President Obama has now bowed before the Emperor of Japan, symbolizing the superiority of this head of state over himself and his country. Say what you want, but it’s not just a sign of respect. It might be interpreted that way if the Emperor had bowed in return, but he didn’t, of course — he has a better understanding of who and what he is and, apparently, more respect for his country.
First the bow before the King of Saudi Arabia, and now this, all in the context of a President who spends a lot of time apologizing for his country. The White House tried to explain away the bow in Saudi Arabia; I wonder how they’ll spin this one.
Obama may not think it’s a big deal, but I suspect most Americans disagree.
Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: bow, Emperor of Japan, Obama, respect, sovereignty
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (10) | Home
10 Responses to “President Obama Bows Again”
Leave a Reply
Authors
Recent Posts
- I Do Not Like Thee, Governor Romney
- Anthroprogenic Global Warming Gave Us President Obama
- Is Governor Romney an Edsel Republican?
- Five Steps to Positive Life Change (and the Big Payoff!)
- Murderers of the Fogel Family in Israel Are Heroes
- The Church and the Holocaust
- Auschwitz and the Holocaust
- Remembering the Holocaust
- Why Corporate Change is Difficult, But Possible
- Fatigue Is a Parent’s Worst Enemy (and Constant Companion)
- Confesssion: I Did Not Watch the SOTU Last Night
- After the State of the Union: Who Can Defeat Obama?
- Let’s All Vote for President Obama
- Five Building Blocks of Positive Life Change
- Get Ready for Higher Gas Prices
- Success Is Great!
- We need a Reasonable Everything Board (REB)
- Pros and Cons of the U.S. Higher Education System
- Enlightened Self-interest and International Relations
- Four Obstacles to Positive Life Change
"I’ll be shocked if there’s another book this year as important as Charles Murray’s 'Coming Apart' ... that so compellingly describes the most important trends in American society. " -- David Brooks, NYT
Categories
Archives
Meta
Blogroll
- BLACKFIVE
- BlueOregon
- Booman Tribune
- Clarissa's Blog
- Crooked Timber
- Crooks and Liars
- Crossroads Arabia
- Daily Kos
- Dan Miller's Blog
- Democratic Underground
- Donklephant
- Dr. Jim Taylor
- Dr. Jim Taylor's Blog
- Earth Legacy
- EarthAirWater
- Global Voices Online
- Henry David Thoreau’s Blog
- Hot Air
- Instapundit
- Iowahawk
- Iraq Today
- Jack Jacobs
- Jan Barry
- Letters from an Ohio Farmer
- Little Green Footballs
- Matthew Yglesias
- Michelle Malkin
- Mr. Forman's Planet
- Mudville Gazette
- Newsvine Politics
- No Oil for Pacifists
- Outside the Beltway
- Pajamas Media
- Patterico’s Pontifications
- PJ Tatler
- Powerline
- Right Bias
- Talking Points Memo
- The Accidental Humanist
- The Becker-Posner Blog
- The Huffington Post Politics
- The Huffington Post Pollster
- The Long War Journal
- The Moderate Voice
- The Sandbox
- The UN Post
- The Volokh Conspiracy
- TVNewser
- Watching America
- White House Blog
- Wind Rose Hotel
- Wizbang
- Wonkette
;Recent Comments
- Dan Miller: It’s not going to be at all easy and that’s why I would much prefer unity to...
- Tom Carter: It’s not likely to be as easy to defeat Obama as some may think. He has the power of...
- Dan Miller: Thanks, Larry I found it a bit painful to write, but with help from the stuff in the first...
- larry: Well said brother Dan. As you point out,like it or not, we need to unite behind Romney. The...
- Tom Carter: I see the logic. I really do, and that worries me. And the video shows why a lot of people...
- Tom Carter: I remember the Edsel very well, and the much maligned Studebaker, too. I guess one has to...
- Anonymous: It’s sad to see how barbaric these Islamic Palestinians really are. Even sadder is...
- bea woods: My husband served in vietnam in 1968-1969 he was diagnoised with melanoma in 1998 we filed...
- Anonymous: Very good articles. I found myself within your examples of people and their fear of change....
- Tom Carter: This was a truly horrendous mass murder, made much worse by the praise Palestinians (and...
- Tom Carter: I used to teach courses and seminars on business management, and one of the topics...
- Dan Miller: Thanks, Tom. “We report, you decide.” You say, without TOTUS we get the long...
hmmm bowing in Japan is a courtesy its meant to show respect when you greet someone can’t remember it ever having anything to do with superiority. But I guess that doesnt matter when your looking for a reason to complain.
Anonymous, it is American tradition to not formally recognize royalty. We are to be cordial, but it ends there. Two friends meeting each other on the street in Japan, bowing, is a sign of respect. Even an American would not be out of line bowing simulateously with his Japanese business counterpart. For American heads of state or their representatives, it is utterly out of line.
The issue is that we are born sovereign. As sovereigns, we have no superiors or inferiors, only equals. As a replacement for a handshake, no problem. As a symbol of inferiors, huge problem.
A simple handsake is all that is required to greet the Emperor unless your Japanese.
Larry and Brian, you guys are right on target. This president has no clue. He’s going to wreck our country and the way others view it….
By the traditions and standards of foreign affairs and diplomacy, heads of state are equals (as ridiculous as that may sometimes seem) and they do not show deference and subordination to each other, particular formally and in public. That’s true for the president and everyone who represents him. No U.S. ambassador would bow to a foreign sovereign, and the president certainly shouldn’t do it.
Anonymous, if you read enough on Opinion Forum, you’d know that I’m not anti-Obama and I’m not looking for reasons to complain about him. But this business of bowing to foreign monarchs is wrong, and it’s particularly wrong for an American president, given our history and traditions. Simply put, he ought to know better.
And look at the ones he’s bowed and shown deference to: the King of Saudi Arabia — enough said. The Emperor of Japan — whose very existence is a sign of our tolerance and charity following World War II.
And whom did he not bow to (as far as I know)? The Queen of England, the one monarch that he should respect most among them all (although he still shouldn’t bow).
Such a low bow is a mistake on the part of president Obama. It is a clear sign of weakness. He is the American head of state so he doesn’t have to bow to the Japanese emperor. I like Obama a lot, but all this obsequiousness has to stop.
Guess it looked better to me than when Bush held hands with that Arab, at least Obama doesn’t look like a sissy or a partner,just a bow,as a sign of respect.
Admiral Timothy Keating yesterday made a strong defense of Obama’s bow.
I agree with his stated rationale.
Kevin, by etiquette and protocol, the spirit of the U.S. Constitution, and long-standing tradition, the President of the United States does not bow to foreign heads of state. The same is true for an ambassador representing the head of state. Heads of state are all equal, at least in protocol terms.
Nixon once bowed very slightly to the previous Emperor, and there was some question of whether it was really a bow. Nonetheless, he was criticized for it.
For a U.S. military officer to bow to a head of state as a show of respect is not a big deal; neither is it a big deal if he doesn’t. If either were to elicit criticism, which is unlikely, I suspect it would be the bow.
Obama botched it in a couple of ways. First, he bowed. Second, he bowed while shaking hands (or touching the Emperor), which is a no-no.
Tom, as Admiral Keating points out, Emporer Akihito is a figure-head barred from ANY role in the government by the Japanese Constitution.
Obama bowed to the embodiment of Japanese history as a sign of culturally sensitive respect, nothing more.