White House Official: Obama was just following protocol when bowing to Japan’s Emperor
By(Video provided for those of you who believe the low bow was photoshopped.)
Politico reported that a White House official claims that President Obama’s low bow to Japanese Emporor Akihito was simply an observance of protocol.
“I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base,” the official said. “He observes protocol. But I don’t think anybody who was in Japan – who saw his speech and the reaction to it, certainly those who witnesses his bilateral meetings there – would say anything other than that he enhanced both the position and the status of the U.S., relative to Japan. It was a good, positive visit at an important time, because there’s a lot going on in Japan.”
Jake Tapper spoke to an Obama supporter who begs to differ.
“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.’”
(See that picture HERE.)
“Yet, (and?) Nixon gets the bow right. Slight arch from the waist hands at his side.
“Obama’s handshake/forward lurch was so jarring and inappropriate it recalls Bush’s back-rub of Merkel.
“Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.
“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 and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.
Ouch!
Update: Maybe Tapper’s source is a little off base. Via HotAir, UConn College Republicans put together this video showing handshakes from 47 different heads of state greeting the Japanese Emperor. Only one of them bowed. The more you see the Obama bow, the worse it gets. How embarrassing.
Popularity: 33% [?]
Did he puke on anybody??
Wow! Bowing beats out jobs, healthcare, the deficit, two wars, Obama actual speech in Japan… I wonder if Asians and the rest of world might think Americans are stupid.
I agree, he’s incompetent on jobs, healthcare, the deficit and the wars. Thanks for pointing that out, I never would have noticed.
Bowing is a willful act, vomiting, not so much, to try and compare the two is quite silly. The backrub with Merkel is a better example (and listed above).
Saying that bowing beats out other issues is correct. Most Asians already think we’re stupid, but it has nothing to do with jobs and healthcare or the deficit or the two current conflicts.
It’s about how our current leader (and most americans actually) refuses to learn about other cultures and how they work. The media in japan is all over this bow, as well as obama’s non-answer to the “was it correct to drop the a-bomb” question. Obama has done nothing but show weakness on the international scene, and this is yet another example. And yes, this is exactly why Asians (at least japanese) think we’re stupid.
What a non issue. You must be lonely to make this a news story.
Oooopsie! How awkward. Apparently Clark Griswold is on the protocol team.
I’m glad there isn’t anything important going on anywhere.
Morans?
bow before your asian masters half-breed gaijin…
Ah, you talk like a fag, and your shit’s all retarded.
Lol.
How about the George Bush impromptu backrub that one time?
Oh, and, funny there, Lone Conservative.
“Yes, he’s incompetent in the wars and deficits-”
Right. Your party’s president was much better.
OH, WAIT, HE’S THE ONE WHO STARTED THE DEFICIT. And the second war we had no reason being there for. And for signing bill after bill that crippled us slowly and surely to make oil a higher-price commodity for his family, who are main-line stockholders in Big Oil. Oh, he’s also the president who spent his first nine months at Camp David perpetually. While systematically taking out every cent from the social security fund that we needed to keep the system working in expectation for the baby boomers needing it.
You’re right. Obama, who has started no wars, has been trying to stem the tide of fail that came from the Bush Administration since he got into office and has been running all over the place patching up our international image is just so incompetent.
You friggin’ peabrain.
By the way, who is this mysterious “Obama supporter” who “begs to differ?” Cuz, damndest thing ever, I can’t seem to find any sort of information on the guy. Or do you just make up a lot of BS, like all conservative-leaning pundits, newscasters, and media organizations tend to do?
Not that it will help you any if you can provide any proof of the guy.
The ABC News story identified him as an Obama supporter. ABC News is hardly righ wing.
Started the deficit? Do you have any idea how much this president and this congress have spent in the past 11 months? Elegy, you need to get a life.
WHO CARES!!!!!!
Good heavens, LC, you made the Libs so mad they cannot spell or articulate an argument. Good for you!
Obama is a moron. Or, “moran”….whatever.
Thanks, Liberty. Thank God I didn’t encounter them in person. I’d need a face shield to block the flying saliva!
Hold on, my turn to get the sandbox and pee in the corner!