Battle of the Comments over Obama's Bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito

In case you don't read the comments section, an interesting debate has developed between me, and an ignorant leftist:


Yes.. I'm the crazy one for not making such a huge deal about Obama doing the traditional gesture of respect to a foreign leader.. who happens to be an ally.

Yes, it was probably more dramtic than Nixon's or Eisenhower's similar gestures, but then Obama is taller and goofed on doing two different cultural signs of respect at the same time.

I get it.. I really do. Everyone else thinks it's ridiculously over blown and meaningless, but Doug knows how truly treasonous it is.

And again.. I offer you pictures of President George Bush holding hands with actual Islamic "royalty", and that's just peachy?

Trutn is.. I don't think Bush did anything at all out of place when he did that. Holding hands is a custom and sign of friendlyness to the Saudi culture. It wasn't a big deal at all, and actually a nice sign of humanity. I'd imagine your head would explode if Obama did similar.

That we're even debating this is, in my mind, really bizare.
Thomas | | Email | Homepage | 11.17.09 - 10:32 pm | #


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We were told throughout Obama's campaign that he is a man of international flavor who understands the world and its various cultures better than any president in the past. We were told Obama was intelligent and articulate. Then, he goofs up a bow so bad that it is embarrassing to the country (shaking hands and bowing simultaineously), and submissive in nature. I understand that Japan is an ally, and it is not the symbolism to Japan directly that is the concern, but to the worldwide community, in relation to Obama's belief in globalism. Bush was also a globalist, so many of his questionable foreign relations activities did not surprise me. And yes, if Bush had done what Obama has done, I would have been all over it, just like I was all over it (in my personal writings and submissions to newspapers at the time) when Daddy Bush used the words "New World Order." And I could care less what their intentions were if they were, as you seem to think, honorable. The real debate here, then, is motivation. Did Obama bow as a sign of American subservience, or to be culturally sensitive (though he botched it badly)? I submit that all of Obama's motivations, if you pick apart his policies and actions, are to compromise the U.S. position as a super power, and to manipulate opinion for an eventual destruction of American sovereignty as he forces the U.S. into a global governance system headed by either the U.N., or a similar organization. I also think that Obama believes he will somehow be a part of this new world order - not for America, but for himself.
Douglas V. Gibbs | | Email | Homepage | 11.18.09 - 4:26 am | #