Obama Bows Low to Japan's Emperor

President Obama must be a fan of Frank Sinatra as judged by his unusual low bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arrival at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

The White House claimed that the President was following protocol, but what protocol? The "I did it my way" protocol?

Obama bowing to Japanese Emperor Akihito

Actually the US Protocol is that the President bows to no one; heads of states meet as equals. The US protocol is the same as every other sovereign state in the world. 

Heads of states do not bow to each other

There was a furor when President Clinton appeared to make an almost indiscernible bow to Emperor in 1994. At that time the New York Times made it clear that had Clinton actually executed a full bow, it would have destroyed a precedent dating to the founding of the Republic:

But the “thou need not bow” commandment from the State Department’s protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years.

But that was the slightest of inclinations of the head, nothing compared to Obama's full and deep bow.

Following the Japanese fiasco, the White House claimed "Protocol", but who's protocol were they following?

A compilation of photos of Emperor Akihito meeting with various foreign leaders shows 47 leaders meeting with the Emperor; tally: 46 hand-shakes and 1 bow 

46 hand-shakes -1 bow

According to the White House it is protocol for the US to bow - but apparently not the rest of the world. (warning this is painful to watch).



But this bowing cannot be explained away by respect for Japanese culture. Obama bowed very low to Saudi King Abdullah at a meeting of the G-20 in April of this year. 

Remembering that Saudi Arabia is an extremely repressive regime, and funds jihad and wahabi Islam, why I ask, would the President of the US, the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful and influential nation on earth, act like a feudal subject to his overlord?

The President should be following established norms and protocols while he is the President, he has a duty to the citizens of the US, and is therefore he is not free to do as he sees fit - to make it up as he goes a along.

I wonder if he has been watching too much of Jimmy Carter's behaviour?
 

Obama bows to Saudi King Abdullah, while Sarkozy and the King chuckle.

I saw the video of President Obama bowing to Vladimir Putin; the gesture of humility was not reciprocated by the ex KGB leader.

The leftist idea is that the US has to erase a legacy from previous administrations, but the attack on the  USS Cole was on October 12 2000 during the Clinton presidency, and the attack on the World Trade Centre was on September 11, 2001 during the Bush administration (sworn in on January of that year).

The theory that bowing to other leaders will increase the respect for the US is a wild fancy; a "vanity" in older language.

In fact the Japanese were embarrassed by it. It is embarrassing to everyone who looks to the President of the US to be a leader in the war against repression and terrorism. Unfortunately Obama does not recognise that there is a war; that is the first problem

Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, AB