Video capture of President Obama "bowing" to
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a formal reception
for the G-20 Summit last week in London.
Being a conservative writer in the Age of Obama is like being a parka salesman in Alaska, but is the reaction to the latest episode of the Presidential Reality Show just a case of Obama Derangement Syndrome?
President Obama appears to have bowed when meeting Saudi King Abdullah in London at a reception for the G-20 Summit last week. Or, if you believe the White House, he did not bow. I fail to see what the After all, I am afraid I have to agree on technical grounds with the White House. Obama did not bow because the video clearly shows that he genuflected as his right leg bent when he bent at the waist and lowered his body. It's a degree of difference such as between waving and saluting.
Watch the video (below) and make your own determination, but I like the way comedian and radio talk show host Dennis Miller deconstructed the gesture when talking to Bill O’Reilly on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor.
“The guy [Obama] came up to a guy dressed up like Sergeant Bilko [King Abdullah] in a sketch and bent over down to his hips. Whatever you want to call that, it looks weird.”
The White House comment on the matter is a tad more nuanced. Well after the video has circulated through the Internet and hundreds of columns and thousands of blog posts have been written, as though the video never existed, an anonymous source within the Obama administration is quoted by Politico.com as saying, “It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah.”
The Free Republic has compiled a scrapbook of photos of the President shaking hands with people shorter than him. As he is a tall man this is a frequent occurrence, and although I wouldn’t try to make a forensic case, every one of the pictures show that Obama does not lower his body when shaking hands with people of smaller stature, as is normal of a man with his confidence.
The style of the White House’s clarification is the type that may cool off the throngs of women who we are assured pant over the young president in frequent moments of daydreaming fantasy. Each of us knows what duplicity sounds like, but women have the disproportionate experience of being simultaneously dealt an emotional wound. Cheating the people from the truth by using clever language just won’t cut it in the Oval Office. Well, it won’t cut it anymore.
We can take some solace that this president has yet to wag his finger at reporters and exclaim, “I did not have friendly relations with that Saudi, King Abdullah.” Rest assured that if the drama continues we will be entertained by testimony from experts on the MSNBC payroll on why the bow was not, in fact, a bow. The video will be looped ad infinitum like the Zapruder film in Oliver Stone’s JFK. A professor of osteopathy will lecture on Obama’s unique musculoskeletal system and body posture like Jim Garrison unveiling his ‘Magic Bullet’ theory.
For now, President Obama is taking a conspicuous holiday from his previous wall-to-wall schedule of daily televised addresses and press conferences. Sooner or later, the bunker strategy will have to be jettisoned when one crisis or another needs to be hyped and we can only hope that the President will be afforded the opportunity to address the issue in his own words. Until that moment of transparency, Team Obama has every reason to duck, slide and head for cover on this issue. Or do they?
Why should we even care about Obama’s decision to bend a knee upon greeting Saudi King Abdullah? (It is tangentially relevant that King Abdullah did not return the deferential gesture.) After all, has he not been consistent in his approach to showing respect to the customs of other foreign leaders? We’re all aware of the age-old tradition in Britain for giving gifts of home electronics. The German custom of speaking ill of their national history when traveling overseas is equally well-known. Oh, the times I have had to listen to a Prussian tourist drone on, blubbering about how badly they treated the Poles.
Since Obama has established himself as a gentleman diplomat in these other encounters, can’t we simply bypass the inevitable circus of Democrat excuse-making – the well-rehearsed Cirque de Olé - by chalking it up to a meaningless act? Isn’t this much ado about nothing? Surely, it is not.
Appropriate criticism and concern about President’s Obama genuflection has something to do with the breaking of a tradition going back to George Washington of American presidents standing equal to their foreign counterparts so as to give no appearance of loyalty to any foreign government. It has something to do with the question of whether there exists a pathological disingenuousness (euphemism alert) in the character of the man who was elected to protect American interests at home and abroad.
Besides the long-standing tradition of American presidents not demonstrating deference to foreign leaders, the specter of split loyalties is one that resonated with many Americans during the campaign. During the primaries, as stories about William Ayers and Reverend Wright surfaced, so did Obama’s dominating lead against Hillary Clinton take on less than buoyant properties. The theme drawn out by those connections was a perception that then-Senator Barack Obama (oh, weren’t those the good old days?) had an alarming tendency to associate with folks who vocally demonstrated a remarkable disdain for the American government and the values on which the country was built.
It was largely due to the commanding lead he built prior to the spread of those stories that he was able to suffer a string of state losses leading into the Democratic Convention and received the party’s nomination in Denver. These questions of ties to radical militant Marxists, America-damning preachers, combined with the flap over a disappearing flag pin, was an issue that did damage him as a candidate in many areas of the country. The scars of those political wounds are probably still fresh enough to give him a jolt when questions of his loyalties are raised (as is understandable) from this flap being called ‘Bowelgate’ by some in the media.
This will be an issue that will shadow Obama through his presidency in much the same way that President Bush’s speech to the nation on the need for war with Iraq became an albatross around his administration’s neck. Obama will not be able to address the truth of the moment, because to do so would validate the attacks that are already raining down, attacks on his patriotism that began long before he was elected. So, it will remain a lie out of necessity, for to explain it would just dig a deeper hole.
Welcome, President Obama, to the end of your honeymoon. Please be sure to fill out the comment card when you leave the White House and let us know how you enjoyed your stay.
Comments
It doesn't matter what this new President does...there will always be more intelligent people sitting on the side lines complaining about the play. Where did you indulge your complaints as you watched the worst President in the last 80 years run our great nation into the ground. Chasing after a man he never found. Are you a Patriot simply because you have the ability to write an article? I served our nation for 22 years in the military and fought in three combat ingagements. Does this service to country make me a Patriot? Give the man a chance...he inherited a big mess. Someone gave you a chance to be a writer, did you inherit a big mess?
Soon, Obama will have all Americans bowing towards Mecca and to the The House of Saud. Inshallah. Americans are too stupid to see their own greatness and therefore will fail as a great country. Soon future presidents will have to take their shoes out before they meet King Abdullah and face Mecca for prayers.
wow!! the president of the united states bowing down to The House of Saud Monachy and to Mecca. I guess the women,children,mothers,fathers,husbands,wifes,infants are resting in peace under 60 feet of dirt in their graves in the world trade center thanking Obama for finally asking the forgivness of the house of Saud and Islam and also the magificent 19 plane hijackers who were all saudis.
Now Obama needs to make america and look towards MECCA. The queen of england got a nod and House of Saud got a DEEEP Bow and respect. Pity the USA
After looking at the tape many-many times I see the President pointing to where he would like for the King to kiss.
But seriously....
which incident more imperiled the nation:
- Bill Clinton's infamous BJ?
or
- Barack Obama's genuflection?
Inquiring minds want to know!
The bow or the non bow is not the question....Even Oliver North agrees with the White house..no bow..but he curtsied? Gibbs appears to gotten it wrong 2 times now trying to explaining it? The non excuse appears to be the problem? Let's hear Obama explain better like how he explained lipstick on a pig?
Who Cares, why don't you report on real news something we actually care about. Opps I forgot your not a journalist you are pundit.
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