Posted by
Steve on Monday, November 16, 2009 3:45:48 PM
For the second time, Barack Obama has embarrassed this country by bowing to a foreign ruler. This time he bowed to the Emperor of Japan. Here is the link to the YouTube video that shows Barack Obama bowing to the Emperor of Japan, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mZfpOfQYc. You decide for yourself if he bowed or not.
According to Japanese protocol, a bow like the one Barack Obama performed is done when one is trying to make amends for some wrong he/she committed. A normal bow to a head of state in Japan is a bow of about 45 degrees. This bow is of the 90 degree variety. It is similar to that bow/non-bow to the Saudi King.
Like I said at the time of the Saudi bow, American Presidents do not bow to anyone. Since George Washington was elected President there have been only two instances of American Presidents bowing to a foreign head of state. Both have come during the Presidency of Barack Obama. Something is really fishy when an American President bows to anyone. In this video, he even continues to give head bows to both the Emperor and his wife. This was almost too unseemly to watch. I thought Barack Obama had more respect for himself than that.
The announcer on the YouTube video said something interesting. He mentioned that the bow might be a result of Obama’s being raised in Indonesia all those years. I do not know the validity of that statement, but it does cause one to wonder what sort of training he received in Indonesia that is coming forward today.
What Barack Obama needs is a protocol guide to help him understand what he is supposed to do in these high level meetings. He is not Barack Obama private citizen. He is President of the United States. He needs to act like the President of the United States at all times when in foreign countries. If he wants to let his hair down in the United States, that is acceptable as we understand. Foreigners do not understand a President that is not acting as the President. That is too fine a line for a foreigner to draw. Americans know the difference instinctively. At least, I think that most Americans know the difference. If Obama knew the difference, he would not act like he is in foreign countries and with foreign leaders. That is why he needs someone to fill him in on what to do at all situations.
Right now, we have an embarrassment as President. He acts like he has never seen other Presidents when they have been in foreign countries. He acts like he has to make things up as he goes along. It does not matter that there are over 200 years of diplomatic protocol to guide him in these situations. He just goes in and acts like he thinks he is supposed to act as a citizen of the world. Most Americans do not buy into that citizen of the world nonsense. We are Americans and expect our President to act in a certain way. When our President does not act like we expect him to act, we are embarrassed as a nation.
When Bill Clinton was President, the New York Times got on his case for basically thinking about bowing to the Emperor of Japan. I shall wait with baited breath for the New York Times to excoriate Barack Obama for actually bowing to the Emperor. Obama did more than just bow; he bowed in subjugation to the Emperor according to Japanese custom. Our Rube in the White House probably does not even know what he did. Oh, well we have until 2012 until we can vote him out of office. Let’s hope there is an America there that can still vote in 2012. The way this bunch is going, I am not so sure that we may not recognize ourselves in 2012. That is a scary thought.