The president shows fealty to a Muslim king

[formerlurker]

Barack takes a bow
The president shows fealty to a Muslim king
by | Tuesday, April 7, 2009

In a shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate, President Obama bowed to Saudi King Abdullah at the Group of 20 summit in London last week.

Mr. Obama later said in Strasbourg, France, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect." Symbolism is important in world affairs. By bending over to show greater respect to Islam, the U.S. president belittled the power and independence of the United States.

The bow was an extraordinary protocol violation. Such an act is a traditional obeisance befitting a king's subjects, not his peer. There is no precedent for U.S. presidents bowing to Saudi or any other royals. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt shook hands with Saudi King Abdulaziz in February 1945. Granted, Mr. Roosevelt was wheelchair-bound, but former President Dwight D. Eisenhower shook hands when he first met King Saud in January 1957. Mr. Obama's bow to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques does not help his image with those who believe he is secretly a Muslim, and why he chose to bow only to the Saudi King and not to any other royals remains unexplained.

No Americans of any station are required to bow to royalty. It is one of the pillars of American exceptionalism that our country rejected traditional caste divisions. Article I Section 9 of the Constitution forbids titles of nobility and stipulates that no officeholder or government employee may "accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state" without the consent of Congress. Judith Martin wrote in her Miss Manners column in 2001 that bowing "is not an ordinary bit of foreign etiquette one might adopt out of courtesy when traveling. ... Americans do not properly bow to any royalty. We show respect for other countries' leaders the same way we do to our own."

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/07/barack-takes-a-bow/


 

{edited by LC EFA added image}

[Sam Adams]

Because I am feeling unusually paranoid, I have mentally connected this to something else Obama may have done:

When Obama was about to take the oath of office on the day of his inauguration, he put his hand on the Bible. But he botched that oath. He never took the oath with his hand on the Bible.

A day or two later, in the White House, out of public view, Obama took the oath again (for the first time, in reality).  This time: No Bible.

Why? Loyalty to Islam.

Someone please convince me I am wrong. I want to believe I am wrong.

[Tess Anderson]

I hope you are wrong, but I'm beginning to wonder about this myself again  -  there was that slip of the tongue - "my Muslim faith" back during that intervew, his emphasis on helping Muslim nations only, his 57 state remark, and telling Turkish students that American is not a Christian nation, no new church in DC yet . . . Muslims have longed vowed to destroy America from within, whoop there it is.

[thundley4]

Because I am feeling unusually paranoid, I have mentally connected this to something else Obama may have done:

When Obama was about to take the oath of office on the day of his inauguration, he put his hand on the Bible. But he botched that oath. He never took the oath with his hand on the Bible.

A day or two later, in the White House, out of public view, Obama took the oath again (for the first time, in reality).  This time: No Bible.

Why? Loyalty to Islam.

Someone please convince me I am wrong. I want to believe I am wrong.

I think he took the second oath later in the day, but your point of no bible is still valid.

[5412]

I think he took the second oath later in the day, but your point of no bible is still valid.

Hi Thundley,

It is not his muslim faith that bothers me as much as it is the way he is going about weakening this country which is out of their playbook.  If this guy was a republican the mainstream media would have chewed him up, spit him out, and he would be history by now.

regards,
5412

[formerlurker]

I hope you are wrong, but I'm beginning to wonder about this myself again  -  there was that slip of the tongue - "my Muslim faith" back during that intervew, his emphasis on helping Muslim nations only, his 57 state remark, and telling Turkish students that American is not a Christian nation, no new church in DC yet . . . Muslims have longed vowed to destroy America from within, whoop there it is.

No church yet is a pretty big red flag.   

[thundley4]

Hi Thundley,

It is not his muslim faith that bothers me as much as it is the way he is going about weakening this country which is out of their playbook.  If this guy was a republican the mainstream media would have chewed him up, spit him out, and he would be history by now.

regards,
5412

I dunno, if his faith is what is causing his actions to destroy the economy and this country, then it is a huge problem.  There were fringe elements during the primaries that claimed 0Bama was a Manchurian candidate. He has given us many reasons to believe that the fringe may have been right.

[Bluesuiter-Retired]

Bowing to his master!

[DixieBelle]

There is more than enough to give me pause. And heartburn.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Hi Thundley,

It is not his muslim faith that bothers me as much as it is the way he is going about weakening this country which is out of their playbook.  If this guy was a republican the mainstream media would have chewed him up, spit him out, and he would be history by now.

regards,
5412

Indeed. He can pray to whatever hearing impaired gutter-wash deity he wants; it's the destruction of America I want to oppose. Stop that and the motivating ideology becomes immaterial.

FWIW - I don't think he's a muzzie...he spent too many years hangin' and bangin' with that racist Rev Wright for that to be the case.

[jinxmchue]

This was no mistake in protocol.  It was deliberate.

[formerlurker]

This was no mistake in protocol.  It was deliberate.

My fear is that you are 100% correct. 

[formerlurker]

It wasn’t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent President, and the Emperor of Japan.

Canadians still bow to England’s Queen; so do Australians. Americans shake hands. If not to stand eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were 1776 and all that about? …

Guests invited to a white-tie state dinner at the White House (a Clinton Administration first) were instructed to address the Emperor as “Your Majesty,” not “Your Highness” or, worse, “King.” And in what one Administration aide called “some emperor thing,” an Army general was cautioned that he should not address the Emperor Akihito at all as he escorted him to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
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.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/we...a-bow-bow.html

[DumbAss Tanker]

King Abdullah reportedly told a source later, "...And then I said, 'Bro, your shoelace is untied!' and the dumbshit bends over and looks down!  ICE BURN!!!" followed by high-five (Right hands of course) all around.

 

[thundley4]

It wasn’t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent President, and the Emperor of Japan.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't bowing in this manner a Japanese tradition among friends and equals, much like our handshake?  If so, that is a big difference between what Slick Willie did and what The Zero did.

[formerlurker]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't bowing in this manner a Japanese tradition among friends and equals, much like our handshake?  If so, that is a big difference between what Slick Willie did and what The Zero did.

Bowing to the Emperor of Japan, commonplace or not in Japan, is not anything I want to see a U.S. President EVER do.

[Hawkgirl]

This was no mistake in protocol.  It was deliberate.

Well, he didn't have teleprompter for the oath, and we all know how he stutters and fumbles without it.  I do no think it was deliberate...He really is that stupid without the teleprompter.

[thundley4]

Bowing to the Emperor of Japan, commonplace or not in Japan, is not anything I want to see a U.S. President EVER do.

Maybe I wasn't clear.  I think bowing in Japan, as Clinton did , is done among equals not to signify subservience.  No difference than our custom of shaking hands.

[JohnnyReb]

{edited by LC EFA added image}

"Uh...uh....I think your ass is on the other side your highness"

[TheSarge]

Just as the U.S. colors don't dip before any other nation...the President...an extension of those colors doesn't bow to any other head of state.

[formerlurker]

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/we...a-bow-bow.html

The NY Times has removed this page.   BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. 

[Chris]

You FUBAR'ed the link

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/weekinreview/the-world-the-president-s-inclination-no-it-wasn-t-a-bow-bow.html

[Sam Adams]

If that was not a bow, I am the king of Saudi Arabia.

[djones520]

Maybe I wasn't clear.  I think bowing in Japan, as Clinton did , is done among equals not to signify subservience.  No difference than our custom of shaking hands.

Depends on the type of bow really.  Between equals it's more kinda of a curt head bow that'll be done at the same time.  When acknowledging respect and a higher station, you initiate the bow, and it's done at the waist.

[Bluesuiter-Retired]

oh-bum-uh reminds me of DARTH VADER bowing down before the emporer[sic]

So the caption ought to be

obama [aka DARK VADER] to the king of saudi arabia --- Yes my master