The Obama Japan Bow – please make it sto…

The Obama Japan Bow – please make it stop!

Looks like the LA Times is slumming it with the teabaggers today – a lengthy article on the Obama bow in Japan. The Baggers have been up in arms about this for the last few days as it is much more politically correct than yelling “The president is black” at the top of their lungs.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/obama-emperor-akihito-japan.html
A truly awful piece of journalism perhaps best summed up by this breathless update:

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?

The author, Andrew Malcolm, seems to specialize in this type of drivel.

Here, just for a laugh are a couple of the readers comments attached to the article:

I’m sorry…but the AMERICAN HEAD OF STATE SHOULD NOT BOW TO ANY OTHER HEAD OF STATE>…A polite handshake would suffice.
This muslim is such a apologizing freak….the man lacks any leadership skills what-so-ever….BOWING….
My guess is that when we capture binaden he will invite him for some goats milk and cheese crumpets….to talk over the good times…..
Obama should be IMPEACHED for aiding and abetting terrorism!

Posted by: Sandra | November 14, 2009 at 04:57 AM

WTH? Will this man ever stop bowing and scraping to foreign leaders. What is wrong with him? Wait I know, he is a narcissistic, psychopath with delusions of grander and bent on destroying the United Sates of America as we once knew it: a free country.
Cut taxes, stop over regulation, strengthen the military, get out of the way of commerce. cut government bloat, get out of health insurance, leave me the hell alone…………..

Posted by: Cindy | November 14, 2009 at 05:17 AM

And finally to introduce a little sanity:

so what? George Bush held hands with and kissed the Saudi king when he was president. it’s really not that unusual for people in public office to observe the cultures of other people these days. as for me, it’s always been my policy to respect the cultures of countries i visit.

bowing is actually a common social gesture in most parts of Asia. that’s just how they formally greet each other in Japan. the writer of this article seems to be confused with respect/courtesy and submission. Asians actually differentiate between the two clearly. when one wants to submit himself to another person, he goes down on his knees and spreads his arm unto the ground (an act called kowtowing).

and what’s up with the fact that 3/4 of this article is dedicated to Hirohito? the whole thing seems completely tangential, unless the writer is trying to argue that Obama shouldn’t pay his respects to the current Japanese emperor because of what the last emperor did. i’m not going to argue this one, but to me, it just seems like a cheap shot.

such bigotry is a pet peeve for me. seriously, i can’t believe whoever wrote this would have the effrontery to write such an article (let alone dedicate hours of his time rambling about such a small thing). just get over it. if you want to attack Obama, there’s so many other things to write about.

Posted by: joe | November 14, 2009 at 05:39 AM

Thank you Joe