Posted on 11/13/2009 9:10:01 PM PST by STARWISE
one look at the picture said something was ~really~ wrong>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You got it. You have therefore experienced enough of Japanese culture to know how genuine admiration and respect feels in a bow.
This feels as you imply....horrible.
No respect. Its a bow all about “me.”
Obama is a bull in a China shop, no,,, a defecating bull in a China shop.
Obama will leave a horrible mess in Japan for his underlings to clean up, if indeed they can.
Think the Chinese will miss this? Sheesh, what am I saying? They've already pegged him as a man-child.
Is it really a faux pas for a foreign leader to bow to the Emperor? Who does have the privilege of bowing to him?
Correct and your name calling is as childish as the bow Obama made.
Mistook him for a Saudi prince?
Are you kidding?
You make no sense at all.
Yes, this is a a photo which illustrates genuine mutual admiration and respect.
Obama takes another dive.
Ah, thanks for the insight. I never mastered the bow in 4 1/2 years of living in Japan.
It is not normal at all. Obama fails to realize that he is representing America. We do not bow or prostrate ourselves to foreign rulers. Another major diplomatic gaffe by this idiot.
Agreed. That is the external aspect, just as you describe.
STOP that! My GRANDSON’S SITTING HERE!!!
Bowing your head to some one who you revere as a man of God is not the same as bowing your entire body over and facing the ground in front of other poitical world leaders.
BUMP!!!!
Keep in mind he is trying to make this "normal" after he addressed the saud king.
Makes you feel warm and fuzzy doesn't it? God forbid but the weakness this "man" exibits may get us hit again. In fact I'm certain we will get hit again. In fact we did by Hasan.
A Japanese homeless person would not bow that low to the Emperor and his wife !
Who needs to master the bow while living in Japan? Its really not necessary these days.( Unless you hang around with really old fashioned codgers who have the power of life and death over you, LOL.)
But as you know, the degress of informality/formality on the Japanese social register are much more complex than in the West. These things matter at this level of diplomacy, as you imply.
It is either a failure of an ability to project the United States of America properly when behaving abroad as our national representative (i.e. he is too green or ignorant or embarrassed of the United States), OR it another phenomenon at work: it is something I have seen some stupid, ignorant F-O-B Americans and other foreigners who have never been Japan, (who are in very senior positions, awkwardly confused about how to bow) on their first visit here think they will put in an extra 25 degree angle for good measure, trying to outdo the Japanese, and they end up looking rather foolish--both to the Japanese themselves, and to long time observers in Japan who are foreigners and never go that "native" or overboard. The US Embassy here should have had this scripted for the POTUS on these fine points. Maybe they did and he disregarded them, or maybe struck with a sick sense of "client-itis", the State freaks who are a bunch of weenies by the way, on purpose suggested he make a fool of himself like this. Wait till the Chinese and the North Koreans get ahold of this picture.
If AmericanInTokyo had the privilege of meeting the Emperor (I did when he was Crown Prince) I would have conducted such a bow.
But. I am not President of the United States.
Others who have been around here might have a different take; I am afterall just one opinion.
Maybe he’s just used to being that “down low”.
Old habits die hard.
You and me both. Newt lost all credibility in my book.
Yes, this was genuine, very well done, a gesture of admiration and respect.
Perhaps BO thinks he's still in Indonesia or Kenya. How do Indonesians or Kenyans bow when greeting someone?
Personally I can not help but suspect that he did this intentionally.
There is a pattern developing with this loser. He likes to disgrace America. He seeks a more submissive and apoligetic America.
He is a disgrace to All Good People who respect and admire freedom and the American way.
(I expect impeachment and removal for high crimes and misdemeanors by a Republican Congress in 2011.)
It won't surprise me if Senator Obama does this in Beijing and would do it in Pyongyang before Kim Jong il. He is not behaving very "Presidential" I don't think even Bill Clinton did this. He is apparantly way out of his league if you want my honest opinion--he better grow out of it or we are going to continually be subjected to international embarrassment.
Nearly all of us here on FR are DISGUSTED with this man, but I am truly, truly trying to be knowledgeable, objective and authoritative on this one.
Brian Williams (NBC) bows to Obama
The bow is because the Saudi King and, now, the Emperor are shorter than Zero.
” If AmericanInTokyo had the privilege of meeting the Emperor (I did when he was Crown Prince) I would have conducted such a bow. “
Really ? I just showed this photo to my Japanese wife and she said there isn’t a Japanese person alive who would bow that low to the Emperor . I know I , as an American , would not .
I call it as I see it. If that is a problem for you I don't care. Pester someone else.
It’s too late. This dumbass is no more Presidential than Lou Grant. He’s a joke and the world knows it.
As someone who spent 28 years as a Foreign Service Officer and had the opportunity to shake the hand of King Fahd and several other heads of state, what Obama did is ridiculous and it reflects poorly on the United States. Obama is not a private individual. I am certain that no one in our Embassy in Tokyo advised him to do this.
I agree with you.
I have had ocassion to be around Japanese nobility.
The manners are quite exquisite, and designed to invoke a profound feeling of respect and even love.
This is a bizzarro bow, an false bow, deceitful.
And I had not thought about it, (thank you for the reminder) , but you are right about the Koreans and the Chinese.They will be quite sure now that they are dealing with a psychopomp, a narcist from whom they can get anything they want by stroking him just right.
Obama is about to be pimped all over the Orient.
Yes, in this case.
Who does have the privilege of bowing to him?
You or me or anyone else who is not a world leader and especially not someone who calls himself President of the United States.
Completely inappropriate - the POTUS represents all of us when he meets with foreign heads of state and he has no business bowing and scraping to any of them. This nation was founded by men who refused to be ruled by a monarch and Obama is out there tugging his forelock like some rube who’s read a little about how to act around royalty.
This must be simple ignorance. Zero is way too arrogant to submit this way to anyone (except the Saudi King and his other Islamist handlers).
Yes Massah Akihito, yes Massah Faud, yes Massah Asssad.........ad infinitum.
He’s praying to the Auto gods to save GM and Chrystler...
So any world leader (an equal?) should not bow, but everyone else should. Is that right?
All that needs to be said.
He looks like he’s ready to give him a BJ or something.
"No, Barack, you gotta bow LOW to the emperor. Really F'ing LOW! Make it lower than you did to the Saudi. Now, don't forget. BOW F'ING LOW. I want you to F'ing smell his SOCKS. Low, got it? That will be our cover for the Saudi bow. We've got it all figured out. You respect world leaders and this is how you show it. Got it? Now don't F up. You are the F'ing president, so go out there and bow low, or you're a dick. Uh, Mister President."
The Founders would be saddened at what we have become.
I just showed this photo to my Japanese wife and she said there isn’t a Japanese person alive who would bow that low to the Emperor>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
She is right about that, at least in public. Privately is another matter.
Retainers to the Emperor still bow that low to him, but properly with a great deal of dignity. They certainly do at Ise Jingu, where Akihito represents every Emperor that Japan has ever had.
But this Obabow is a horrid loss of face for America.
(My son also lives in Japan and has a wonderful Japanese wife. I tell him how fortunate he is, and same to you!)
He’s an idiot. His followers need to read a book. America supported a community organizing, black theologian philosopher and keynesian economic beleiver to run this nation. The seperation between the haves and have nots will quadruple. He’s an idiot.
You know I almost wanted to beieve that the bow to the Saudi Prince was possibly just a mistake. But now...
It is obvious that this is intentional. Obama is using his positon to diminish the honor of our nation and to weaken us.
He will continue appeasing enemy nations and illegal terrorist cells. He will continue to apoligse about what America is as a nation and to pledge to remake this nation as something not American.
Obama is an extreme left-wing loser who is trying to bow for America as a whole and to look down and disgrace us.
It takes time I guess. He doesn’t remember a single sermon from his 20 year church? Remember? He is a liar and does not want you to jump to any conclusions. Trust him at our peril.
It doesn't matter. He's in Japan.
To consider an extreme example that some people might get, recall the scene in Dune where Stilgar spits as a sign of extreme respect.
Presidents are expected to respect local customs, or at least have some clue as to what they are.
Obama apparently, does not.
Its engrained in every Japanese , more or less.
It is more than presumptuous of Obama to demonstrate that he has that relationship , with a false wannabe bow. It is in fact insulting to Japan, and to the United States.
It's actually quite revulsive.
He wants to, probably in his own "sick mind"--and he said as much in Campaign 2008--somehow "undo all the international damage" done by George W. Bush. On the other hand, Governor Palin used one of her applause lines to great glee of the audience which was "the US does not apologize."
Unfortunately, Senator Obama is surrounded with people who think this way, it is a rampant mindset infested in the US Embassy in Tokyo run by State Department and on and on it goes right straight into the Natonal Security Council and the Oval Office. We are mental vassals. But the whole tawdry incident is rather embarrassing if you ask me. Way inappropriate. Probably the borderline was reached with Mike Mansfield's bow to Foreign Minister Sunoda following an incident (resulting in deaths) that was clearly the US' fault. And even that classic photo sticks in my mind; the Commander of US Naval Forces in Japan accompanying Mansfield had a look of abject shock on his fact. I think you never want to go beyond that point. Obama went beyond. Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress are clearly surprised and were probably somewhat embarrassed as well. I have to see the video; I am just looking at the stills and the facial expressions.
Freepers, just tell your friends and neighbors who bought into this fool and international laughing stock, they bought into this as well.
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