Free Republic

U.S. President Barack Obama says he took five minutes out of his busy overseas diplomatic schedule to meet a half-brother who lives in China. Mr. Obama told a U.S. television network that he met Mark Ndesandjo and his wife briefly Monday in Beijing, where the U.S. president held meetings with Chinese leaders this week. The president has the same Kenyan father as Ndesandjo, who recently published a book, Nairobi to Shenzhen, describing Barack Obama Sr. as abusive. President Obama said he does not know his half-brother very well. He said it was not a secret that his father was a...

EIJING — When President Barack Obama landed in Beijing on Monday on his first state visit to China, his first order of business was family business. Before he headed to a formal dinner with China's President Hu Jintao, he set aside time to see his half brother, Mark Ndesandjo, and Ndesandjo's wife, who had flown up from the southern boomtown of Shenzhen where they live. Describing the meeting Monday as "overwhelming" and "intense," Ndesandjo told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he had long anticipated the chance to welcome his famous brother to China. "My big brother, you...

BEIJING — Something got lost in transit in US President Barack Obama's visit to China -- the charismatic rhetoric and dominance of mass communication that took him from nowhere to the White House. Obama built his political persona with soaring speeches on a grand stage and by reaching out to a vast grassroots network on the Internet. But in China, Obama's hosts successfully stifled those prodigious public talents, keeping his message from the people with media censorship and smothering it in staid diplo-speak.

By now you have most likely heard the news of President Barack Obama breaking protocol and bowing before the Japanese Emperor Akihito. This is something that U.S. Presidents do not do. It is something that Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Kings of other countries do not do. So why he did it remains a mystery. White house aides say Obama was simply following protocol; however, this is not protocol. It was not a simple bow to show respect, which would require a very slight tilt of the upper body. Instead, Barack Obama who stands 6' 2" practically bowed parallel to the...

Behind the communist curtain, this video and photograph show Obama bowing at a town hall meeting in Shanghai, China. The man he bowed before wasn't royalty. He was just a University official. Video and photo included.

Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 17, 2009 U.S.-China Joint Statement Beijing, China At the invitation of President Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China, President Barack Obama of the United States of America is paying a state visit to China from November 15–18, 2009. The Presidents held in-depth, productive and candid discussions on U.S.-China relations and other issues of mutual interest. They highlighted the substantial progress in U.S.-China relations over the past 30 years since the establishment...

In the string of amazing decisions made during the first year of the Obama administration, nothing seems more like sheer insanity than the decision to try foreign terrorists, who have committed acts of war against the United States, in federal court, as if they were American citizens accused of crimes. Terrorists are not even entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions, much less the Constitution of the United States. Terrorists have never observed, nor even claimed to have observed, the Geneva Conventions, nor are they among those covered by it. But over and above the utter inconsistency of what...

A little traveling, like a little learning, can be a dangerous thing. Barack Obama on the loose in a foreign land is enough to frighten protocol officers and embarrass the rest of us. He went off to Asia to tell the Chinese a thing or two about world trade, to prepare the world for a treaty to make the sun change its spots, and of course to pay his respects to assorted heads of state, with particular attention to any royal head (perhaps even including Miss Universe) who crosses his path. So far it's a memorable trip. He established a...

In the string of amazing decisions made during the first year of the Obama administration, nothing seems more like sheer insanity than the decision to try foreign terrorists who have committed acts of war against the United States in federal court, as if they were American citizens accused of crimes. Terrorists are not even entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions, much less the Constitution of the United States. Terrorists have never observed, nor even claimed to have observed, the Geneva Conventions, nor are they among those covered by them. But over and above the utter inconsistency of what...

From Article Some of the president's critics are giving him a hard time, and it's true that this president seems never to have studied much American history. Not bowing to foreign potentates was what 1776 was all about. His predecessors learned with no difficulty that the essence of America is that all men stand equal and are entitled to look even a king, maybe particularly a king, straight in the eye. Can anyone imagine George Washington, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson making a similar gesture of servile submission? Or Harry Truman? Or FDR, who famously served the lowly hot dog,...

Dick Cheney is blasting Barack Obama for plunging the presidency to a new low - by bowing to the Japanese emperor. The White House deemed the weekend gesture a sign of respect. But Cheney chided it was downright wimpy. "There is no reason for an American president to bow to anyone," Cheney complained to the Politico.com. "Our friends and allies don't expect it, and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness." Maybe Cheney would prefer if Obama and Emperor Akihito had simply walked hand-in-hand, as former President George W. Bush did with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in 2005...

Why Europe Feels Rejected by Obama By JOHN VINOCUR Why would an American president not come to a celebration marking the fall of the Berlin Wall, and with it, the triumphant end of the Cold War — one of the high points of the United States’ and Europe’s common 20th-century history? Whatever the exact answer — and it could be that a fatigued Barack Obama didn’t want the physical strain of a trans-Atlantic trip days before a weeklong tour of Asia — his absence from the Nov. 9 ceremonies in Germany has reinforced Europe’s fear that it has become an...

It probably works like this. Every morning when Obama rises he takes a deep and refreshing hot coffee high-colonic. During this meditative phase of his day he thinks, "Let's see... how can I show my contempt for America in a manner not previously thought possible? Last week I was giving the American flag my trademarked "crotch salute."** A day or so ago I was bending over for the Emperor of Japan. Humm, what's left? I know, I'll put on the biggest mass murderer of the 20th century's signature jacket for my photo-op. And some lip gloss! And pantyhose! F**k yeah!...

President Obama at a Shanghai town hall with students, as provided by the White House PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good afternoon. It is a great honor for me to be here in Shanghai, and to have this opportunity to speak with all of you. I'd like to thank Fudan University's President Yang for his hospitality and his gracious welcome. I'd also like to thank our outstanding Ambassador, Jon Huntsman, who exemplifies the deep ties and respect between our nations. I don't know what he said, but I hope it was good. (Laughter.) What I'd like to do is to make some opening...

U.S. President Barack Obama has held an unprecedented question and answer session with Chinese students in Shanghai - China's commercial capital. Mr. Obama pushed the importance of freedom of information, while at the same time calling for greater cooperation between Washington and Beijing. This was the first town hall meeting by a U.S. President in China. And it amounted to a delicate balancing act for Mr. Obama. He opened the session with university students by striking a professorial tone, talking about the history of relations between Washington and Beijing, and the importance of working together to tackle global challenges. Mr....

It didn’t take too long for the Left to defend Barack Obama’s bow to Emperor Akihito yesterday by claiming that the President was merely showing cultural sensitivity to the Japanese emperor by deeply bowing. There’s a couple of problems with that argument. First, American Presidents do not bow to monarchs, or at least they didn’t through the first 43 Presidents and the 220 years they served as the US head of state. Perhaps a few of them might have done so out of cultural sensitivity when traveling to foreign nations as private citizens, either before or after their terms in...

NOVEMBER 16, 2009 China's Blunt Talk for Obama Regulator Says U.S. Policy Puts Global Recovery at Risk as President Arrives in Beijing BY AARON BACK BEIJING -- China's top banking regulator issued a sharp critique of U.S. financial management only hours before President Barack Obama commenced his first visit to the Asian giant, highlighting economic and trade tensions that threaten to overshadow the trip. Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said that a weak U.S. dollar and low U.S. interest rates had led to "massive speculation" that was inflating asset bubbles around the world. It has created...

Barack Obama Assures Asia that US Borrowing Will Not Spiral Out of Control President Barack Obama has promised Asia's creditor nations that Washington will not let US borrowing spiral out of control, vowing a major drive to cut the budget deficit and restore global confidence in the US dollar. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 15 Nov 2009 "As the economy recovers, I intend to take serious steps to reduce America's long-term deficit," he told the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum in Singapore. "Debt-driven growth cannot fuel America's long-term prosperity." The assurance comes amid growing doubts across the world over the wisdom of...

Americans shouldn’t worry. Although, the economy is diminishing, jobs are dwindling, soldiers are dying, and a new health care plan might just restructure the nation and cost the taxpayers billions of dollars, our Commander-in-Chief is looking out for us. In fact, he’s in China right now—improving our relations and receiving a hero’s welcome. But, does he deserve it? After a rocky rating month, President Obama’s presidential approval rating has stabilized, states Rasmussen Reports. 28% of American voters strongly approve of his performance, and 38% strongly disapprove. However, 48%, the highest number this year, give Obama poor rankings in the way...

So much of an idiot, in fact, that according to Tapper’s source, at least one Japanese paper isn’t running the photo out of embarrassment. This tool actually groveled himself into a minor international incident. The good news for O-bots? It wasn’t unprecedented. Nixon evidently made a modest bow to Hirohito in the early 70s. The bad news? “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...

“I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base" the official said.....OK, now we got it, Obama was observing protocol, and we are politicizing it....Well there you have it...(Story from Politico)

Politico: A senior administration official said President Barack Obama was simply observing protocol when he bowed to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arriving at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday.

One of President Obama's major campaign promises was to improve the United States reputation abroad. I wonder if he meant that he was going to make America the butt of the World's Jokes. Yesterday the POTUS had another Protocol faux pas by bowing down to Japanese Emperor Akihito, the second time he bowed down to a world leader (King Fahd of Saudi Arabia was the first). By subordinating himself to other world leaders the President has damaged the prestige of the office he holds and of the country. The press in other countries are now running stories with headlines calling...

President Obama has been branded the ‘Groveller-in-Chief’ after giving an exaggerated bow to Japan’s emperor Akihito - the son of the ruler who authorised the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Coming so soon after Remembrance Day, the deep bow caused an outcry in the U.S. While it was seen as a sign of respect in Japan, Mr Obama was attacked in America for ‘bowing and scraping’ to a foreign leader, particularly a Japanese one. Wartime scars are still raw for many Americans. The 6ft 2in President’s mark of deference to the 5ft 5in emperor in Japan on Saturday dominated discussion...

BEIJING - As President Barack Obama prepares for his first visit to China, leaders of the unapproved churches there are condemning his administration for indifference to the increasing persecution they are facing. The latest example of that persecution came Sunday as followers of an unapproved church in Beijing were again forced by the government to find a new place to worship. Worship in China, governed by the officially atheist Communist Party, is allowed only in state-approved churches, but millions of people belong to unregistered churches that often face official harassment.

Surprise, Surprise, none of the major US dailies carry the embarrassing pic of an American President bending in half and stooping so low to a foreign potentate.

Obama bowed to emperor as 'protocol' By: Mike Allen November 14, 2009 11:08 PM EST SINGAPORE – A senior administration official said President Barack Obama was simply observing protocol when he bowed to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arriving at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday. “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 –...

(UPDATES: 12:22 p.m. A brief news video has been added below, showing the greeting in this photograph. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we've added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor at the same residence in a different fashion.) How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty? This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention...

The China-based brother of U.S. President Barack Obama is about to pubU.S. President Barack Obama's half-brother, Mark Ndesandjo, says he plans to publish an autobiography in a few months' time giving more details about their relationship. "In a few months I hope to produce an autobiography which I think will answer some of the questions," Ndesandjo said in an interview on the eve of Obama's first state visit to China. lish his own memoir.

US President Barack Obama will meet his half-brother Mark Ndesandjo and his sister-in-law during his first official visit to China. Ndesandjo and his Chinese wife set off for Beijing on Friday from their home in Shenzhen - a southern city neighbouring Hong Kong - to prepare for Obama's arrival, a spokeswoman for AmCham in South China said. "It will be the first time for Mark to introduce his wife to President Obama," the spokeswoman said. Ndesandjo told China's state-run Xinhua news agency that he wanted his wife, who is from the central eastern province of Henan, to meet the US...

President Barack Obama has bowed to royalty, with a greeting for the Japanese emperor that erases any doubts about what the president's posture was -- remember that bow to the Saudi king that was not really a bow? And some people are falling over backwards today. Our colleague, Andrew Malcolm, at Top of the Ticket, muses on the president's meeting with Japanese Emperor Akihito today, and suffice it to say that the article will light a brush fire of commentary stoked by the hot winds of the Drudge Report's headline. See the Ticket's report there or read it here: (And...

BEIJING (AP) - The Chinese have learned English from his speeches and celebrated the way he rolls up his sleeves. Now President Barack Obama is finally coming, and he's being greeted with "Oba Mao" T-shirts and a statue of him that bursts into flames. Sunday's arrival of a U.S. president admired for his charisma is already a source of profit and brief fame for some Chinese. Strangest is the burning Obama, tucked away in a Beijing warehouse. Artist Liu Bolin hopes Obama can take time from his visit to drop by. "He's so hot right now, so I wanted to...

Bad enough that Obama bowed down to another head of state yesterday. Even worse, he did not bother to learn how one bows in Japan, and just winged it. I agree with Scott Johnson, Steve Gilbert, Andrew Malcom, and many others that the President of the United States should not be bowing before any head of state. But unlike these astute observers, I actually know a little something about the art of the bow in Japan, having lived in Japan four different times on a resident visa, taught East Asian Studies at Harvard, and counseled many hundreds of American, European,...

Barack Obama: you can dress him up, but you can't take him out. Every time he goes abroad, he embarrasses himself and sells out his country. In Japan today, Obama gave a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama. He was asked this question, for which he was unaccountably unprepared: "And to President Obama, you are a proponent of a nuclear-free world, and you've stated, first of all, you would like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki while in office. Do you have this desire? And what is your understanding of the historical meaning of the A-bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?...

I though Americans do not bow to members of royalty? The King of Saudi Arabia, and now the Japanese Emperor? And as the LA Times points out …. there was no reciprocal bow from the Emperor. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we’ve added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor in the same door way in a different fashion. And all the Queen got was an ill advised pat on the back. I guess when it comes to...

Bad enough that Obama bowed down to another head of state yesterday. Even worse that he did not bother to learn how one bows in Japan, and just winged it. I agree with Scott Johnson, Steve Gilbert, Andrew Malcom, and many others that the President of the United States should not be bowing before any head of state. But unlike these astute observers, I actually know a little something about the art of the bow in Japan, having lived in Japan four different times on a resident visa, taught East Asian Studies at Harvard, and counseled many hundreds of American,...

Trying to reassure allies and rivals, President Barack Obama billed himself Saturday as "America’s first Pacific president," promising the nations of Asia "a new era of engagement with the world based on mutual interests and mutual respect." Turning tough, Obama also said that the U.S. "will not be cowed by threats" from North Korea, which he said for decades "has chosen a path of confrontation and provocation, including the pursuit of nuclear weapons." In a slap at President George W. Bush, Obama spoke of the importance of "multilateral organizations [that] can advance the security and prosperity of this region." "I...

"It gets people thinking." Editor's note: President Obama is set to visit China next month.

How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty? This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference for a superior. To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better. Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America's royalty tends to make movies...

Obama Refuses To Defend Bombing Of Hiroshima, Nagasaki

President Obama is on his first state visit to Asia. And, whether it's at home or abroad, it seems the economy remains job number one. With visits on the travel agenda to China and Japan, the two largest foreign holders of U.S. government debt, "the heavy emphasis of this trip is on trade and financial issues," says Politico.com White House editor Craig Gordon. A potential highlight of the trip comes Wednesday when the President meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who recently raised eyebrows saying, "we hope the United States will keep an appropriate size to its deficit." It's a...

Obama to Warn Asia Against Relying on U.S. Consumers By JONATHAN WEISMAN and YUKA HAYASHI [President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday.] AFP/Getty Images President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama hold a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on Friday. TOKYO -- President Barack Obama has come halfway around the world to personally deliver the message to East Asia that the global economy can no longer count on the U.S. consumer to keep it afloat. In what White House aides call a "major...

TOKYO - President Barack Obama is emphasizing cooperation on his first major trip to Asia, opening with a warning to North Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the U.S. and its Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs. The hard line on North Korea was to be a prominent theme of a Friday night speech that also was intended to more broadly showcase a United States that, under Obama's leadership, seeks deeper and more equal engagement in Asia. It was to be the fifth major foreign address of Obama's 10-month presidency, this...

Obama Says He Would Be ‘Honored’ to Visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki Friday, November 13, 2009 (CNSNews.com) – Visiting the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – targets of a U.S. atomic bomb attack that hastened the end of World War II – would be “meaningful,” President Obama said Friday in Tokyo. “I certainly would be honored – it would be meaningful for me to visit those two cities in the future. I don’t have immediate travel plans, but it’s something that would be meaningful to me.” In an interview with a Japanese network earlier this week, Obama said something similar:...

The first — and most important — stopover on President Obama’s long-awaited trip to Asia has been cut in half as he delayed his departure by a day. In Tokyo, he will have just enough time to meet Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, drop in on the emperor and empress, and give a speech on America’s role in Asia. In Asia, Japan is America’s “cornerstone” relationship. From Japanese ports and airfields, we base the forces that defend the South Koreans, guard the Taiwanese, and patrol contested sea lanes. Without Americans in Japan, Chinese warships and planes would soon vie for control...