Did he or didn't he? The photo of Obama's backside as he bows to the Saudi king has now gone viral on the net with all sorts of pithy captions. Youtube videos of the now infamous bow have surpassed tens of thousands of views. But the question still remains, did President Obama kiss the ring of the Saudi king?
The White House released a statement over the weekend denouncing the bow as a misread by the press. President Obama was simply shaking the hand of a man shorter than him.
Conservative columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin was outraged at the display and asked if the president had bowed to anyone else that day. Arguably, the Saudi king received the most respect, the deepest bow and the biggest toothy grin Obama could muster for the entire overseas trip.
The question still remains however, whether Obama went beyond the bow, beyond the cowering to a muslim king, to go so far as to kiss the ring. There is a gentleman who is ever-so-conveniently blocking the shot, but if you study the reactions of the men behind the king, perhaps you can make a better judgement.
Whether he puckered his lips and gave it a smack we may never know, but either way, the President of the United States of America is at the very least an equal to leaders of other countries. The bow was excessive. The bow was unnecessary. And no matter what distorted spin the White House propoganda machine calls it, it was most definitely a bow.
Comments
President Obama simply reverted to instinctive training he received as a child in Indonesian. One Muslim simply showing respect for another Muslim.
President Obama simply instinctively reverted to his Islamic training as a child. He was simply showing respect to a Muslim brother. What is so hard to understand about that gesture.
Doesn't anyone brief this guy on what the heck he's suppossed to do when visiting other countries? I thought he was Christian now anyway. He made a stupid mistake and should apologize instead of saying that he was shaking the hand of a shorter man.
Let's see - he bowed, there are photos and videos - and he says he didn't. If Obama can't tell the truth on something as cut and dried as this is, how can we ever expect him to tell the truth?
Actually, I think he was practicing bowing so he'll know how to deal with the Somali pirates.
what's wrong is that he's the president of the United States of America. Sadly, if it wasn't for the mixing of religion and politics in Muslim countries, this could be different.
Christians keep their religious leaders close, or should, but since they don't lead military nations it's not quite the same.
*Obama kisses it, or did he?*
It looks like he kiss the Saudi kings ring.
he sucked it....not kissed it...tasted kinda oily?
"President Obama simply instinctively reverted to his Islamic training as a child. He was simply showing respect to a Muslim brother. What is so hard to understand about that gesture."
So, whenever he meets a Muslim "brother", he bows? I don't think so.
Yep - He bowed! Definitely a stupid thing to do in all cases. What the hell was he thinking? Now if we got as much play when he bowed to the Queen of England or when other American President did as well then I'd be impressed.
Fair is fair: If Obama kissed it, then what do you call Bush's warm and fuzzy HAND HOLDING when the Saudi King paid him a visit? I'm willing to bet the King slipped him a few bucks while they were playing handsy.
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