Conservatives Furious Over Obama's Bow To Akihito

[Steven]

*This thread is for only the criticisms of Conservatives on this subject ONLY! No other past or current topics regarding Conservatives are to be brought forward!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091116/pl_afp/japanusdiplomacyasiaobama

WASHINGTON (AFP) – News photos of President Barack Obama bowing to Japan's emperor have incensed critics here, who said the US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.

Obama on Monday was in China, having wrapped up the Japan leg of his Asia trip two days earlier. But Washington's punditocracy was still weighing whether or not the US president had disgraced his country two days earlier by having taken a deep bow at the waist while meeting Japan's Emperor Akihito.

Political talk shows have played and replayed the moment from the second day of Obama's week-long Asia tour, which set the blogosphere on fire and chat show tongues wagging.

"I don't know why President Obama thought that was appropriate. Maybe he thought it would play well in Japan. But it's not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one," said conservative pundit William Kristol speaking on the Fox News Sunday program, adding that the gesture bespoke a United States that has become weak and overly-deferential under Obama.

Another conservative voice, Bill Bennett, said on CNN's "State of the Union" program: "It's ugly. I don't want to see it."

"We don't defer to emperors. We don't defer to kings or emperors. The president of the United States -- this coupled with so many apologies from the United States -- is just another thing," said Bennett.

Some conservative critics juxtaposed the image of Obama with one of former US vice president Dick Cheney, who greeted the emperor in 2007 with a firm handshake but no bow.

"I'll bet if you look at pictures of world leaders over 20 years meeting the emperor in Japan, they don't bow," Kristol said.

Some said the gesture was particularly grating coming after Obama's bow to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at a G20 meeting in April.

The US president's Asia trip comes just over a year after he won election to the White House, and is designed to shore up US power in a region increasingly dominated by rising giant China.

But back home, Obama's bow in Japan seems to have grabbed much of the attention being paid to the trip.

The gesture appears to have touched a particularly raw nerve among Obama critics who said the president has hastened America's decline as a world superpower by being too apologetic and too deferential in his dealings with other world leaders.

While most of the commentary about the bow in Japan was decidedly negative, some political observers, like longtime Democratic activist Donna Brazile, came to the president's defense.

"I think it's a gesture of kindness," she told CNN, adding that the bow appeared intended to show "goodwill between two nations that respect each other."

Meanwhile, an unnamed, senior Obama administration official told the Politico.com news site that the president had simply been observing protocol.

"I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base," the official told Politico.

"I don't think anybody who was in Japan -- who saw his speech and the reaction to it, certainly those who witnessed his bilateral meetings there -- would say anything other than that he enhanced both the position and the status of the US, relative to Japan," Politico wrote.

"It was a good, positive visit at an important time, because there's a lot going on in Japan."

I'm more of a conservative myself, and even I think this is ridiculous! Some people apparently don't understand their culture very well, and therefore I laugh at them for thinking they sound as though they know what they're talking about.

If anything, I show my appreciation to Barack Obama for his respect towards His Highness Of The Chrysanthemum Throne.

I don't usually side with the Democrats, but I think this activist's statement is culturally correct. You can never bring culture into politics. They just don't mix. The magazine was thinking the exact same thing I did when I read the headline. Should his bowing, if anything, increase our relations with Japan??? Riddle me that. >.>

 

[Falconwing]

Re: Conservative Furious Over Obama's Bow To Akihito

What's wrong with honoring a foreign leader? We ask them to honor us! How can we ask for respect if we don't respect others?

 

[Hector]

Re: Conservative Furious Over Obama's Bow To Akihito

This is silly. I'm a conservative, and I think Obama did the right thing here. I guess his critics on this one have never heard the saying "When in Rome..."

 

[Virtual-Z]

OH NO!

 

[TPJerematic]

OH NOES THE PRESIDENT IS SHOWING INTELLGENCE AND APPRICIATION FOR OTHER CULTURES!!!!!!!!!

We can't have that lets assassinate him.

[/sarcasm]

 

[Glaciachan]

Oh, God. *facepalm* This is ridiculous. They'll pick on Obama about anything, I swear.

 

[Kasumi]

Simply put: Ridiculous.

Also, since this is more suited for The Soap Box, I'm moving it there.

 

[Big Lutz]

Well there are some things that need to be cleared up. For one Foreign Leaders do not bow to other Foreign Leaders in this day and age. It is a major diplomatic no no and is something that even the NY Times grilled Clinton about. In fact there is a video going about of 46 different heads of state visiting the Emperor, all of them show just a handshake.

Also for those saying that its cultural, from what I am hearing, you do not shake the person's hand while bowing, as it is seen as subservient.

And I will add what ABC News Japanese expert said on it: The bow as he 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

Also just to note, here is the NY Times article on the last time a President bowed: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/w...ent-s-inclination-no-it-wasn-t-a-bow-bow.html

But the "thou need not bow" commandment from the State Department's protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years. Administration officials scurried to insist that the eager-to-please President had not really done the unthinkable.

"It was not a bow-bow, if you know what I mean," said Ambassador Molly Raiser, the chief of protocol.

White House officials described Mr. Clinton's tilt as something of an improvisation. Because Emperor Akihito broke with tradition in turn to raise his glass at the state dinner, some even said Mr. Clinton had managed something of a breakthrough.

"Presidents don't bow, and Emperors don't toast," one official said. "So this was a little bit like the cultures meeting each other halfway."

Also as the video shows, the Akihito was smart enough to know not to return the bow with anymore than a head nod.

 

[Misty]

Another manufactured non-issue, which, sure enough, is spawning more of the Bush-kissing-Abdullah image as well. Even if you think this was a mistake, this is such a minor thing compared to the bigger issues at stake.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

LOL I guess showing respect these days is just very wrong.

 

[Big Lutz]

LOL I guess showing respect these days is just very wrong.

So by that acknowledgment does that mean the Japanese Emperor did not show respect by bowing back? There is a reason why it is against State Department Protocol, it comes off looking subservient, especially if the other does not bow back, and can be a very very big no no.

 

[evkl]

Hahahahahahahahaha.

I want to close this thread-this is a non-issue-but in deference to people who are very concerned about it, I'll leave it open. Don't get spammy though.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

So by that acknowledgment does that mean the Japanese Emperor did not show respect by bowing back? There is a reason why it is against State Department Protocol, it comes off looking subservient, especially if the other does not bow back, and can be a very very big no no.

Please tell me why Obama showing respect is wrong because I am not at all familiar with the State Department Protocol.

 

[Big Lutz]

Please tell me why Obama showing respect is wrong because I am not at all familiar with the State Department Protocol.

Well for one the bow came off as wrong, again from what I have heard shaking hands while bowing like that is more toward subservient than respect. Not saying that Obama believes he is subservient, but that kind of lack of understanding causes problems.

Not to mention bowing in and of itself in American culture does come off as a bit of subservient so for example what may be respect in one country, comes off as demeaning the office of the Presidency in another.

The State Department tries its best to craft protocols so that neither culture is insulted, or shown a lack of respect, which is why bowing doesn't happen. It is better for a handshake and a head nod as what the Emperor did.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

Well for one the bow came off as wrong, again from what I have heard shaking hands while bowing like that is more toward subservient than respect. Not saying that Obama believes he is subservient, but that kind of lack of understanding causes problems.

Not to mention bowing in and of itself in American culture does come off as a bit of subservient so for example what may be respect in one country, comes off as demeaning the office of the Presidency in another.

The State Department tries its best to craft protocols so that neither culture is insulted, or shown a lack of respect, which is why bowing doesn't happen. It is better for a handshake and a head nod as what the Emperor did.

I doubt Obama was told how to bow correctly also to me neither one of them was offended so I don't see what is wrong with Obama just trying to show respect.

 

[Big Lutz]

I doubt Obama was told how to bow correctly also to me neither one of them was offended so I don't see what is wrong with Obama just trying to show respect.

I doubt he was told to bow at all considering how poorly it came off. He was probably briefed on that it is responsible to nod your head and shake the man's hand, he just decided to improve and it came off badly. Personally I do not believe it was a big deal, but that does not mean that it should be done, or that it goes against Presidential and State Department tradition, and came off as amateurish.

That being said, even though you or I do not think it is a big deal, that does not mean others especially older adults, did not see it as demeaning and embarrassing to the Presidency.

 

[Eredar Warlock]

Much ado about nothing, but he should probably assert himself as an equal instead of bowing.

 

[Jeff]

From a protocol standpoint, I'd say Obama was in error. Both are heads of state and are therefore equals. There should be no need for one head of state to bow to another. He just made a mistake, that's all, nothing to really fuss over.

 

[Steven]

I still don't understand how this degrades America....? <_>

They are really reading to far into this...

 

[TTEchidna]

So then does that mean Cheney's handshake was a bad thing? He wasn't head of state, he was fricking VP. A job where you literally wait for the President to die.

Honestly, all the psychos pissed about this are just pissed because it's Obama. And the "older Americans" who dislike it? Screw them. Get with the times. Welcome to 2009.

Sure, maybe that's not the way Presidents have done it, but really, it's not like he threw himself to his knees.