President Barack Obama raised some eyes and the ire of conservatives by appearing to bow when he greeted Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at a G-20 meeting in London.
In an editorial, the conservative leaning Washington Times called it a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate" adding "By bending over to show greater respect to Islam, the US president belittled the power and independence of the United States. Such an act is a traditional obeisance befitting a king's subjects, not his peer."
The conservative magazine The Weekly Standard expressed their disdain for Obama's gesture in their blog:"American presidents do not bow before foreign dignitaries, whether they are princes, kings, or emperors,"
According to Miss Manners Guide for the turn-of-the-millennium,"One does not bow or curtsy to a foreign monarch because the gesture symbolizes recognition of her power over her subjects."
An Obama aide who spoke to Ben Smith of Politico, refuted the charge that it was an bow:"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."
Obama's gesture generated a shocked, but more forgiving criticism from the left"...culminating in the jaw-dropping spectacle of a president of the United States bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia.Why was protest about the latter indignity confined to conservatives? The silence of the major media was a disgrace. But I attribute that embarrassing incident not to Obama's sinister or naive appeasement of the Muslim world but to a simple if costly breakdown in basic command of protocol." said Camille Paglia of Salon.
Muhammah Diyab, a columnist for an Arabic paper called Asharq Alawsat expressed approval of President Obama's apparent gesture of deference:"Obama wished to demonstrate his respect and appreciation of the personality of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has made one of the most important calls in the modern era, namely the call for interfaith and intercultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars".
In contrast some on the right expressed absolute disgust at president Obama's faux pas:"And people don't know what's going on here? Are we kidding?" This is simply the continuation of fellow traveling. It's to be totally expected. Leftists have prostrated themselves before despots throughout history – during the whole Cold War and now vis-Ã -vis jihadists in the terror war. 'United in Hate' crystallizes with precision how and why this dark process occurs.
Obviously, the queen does not wield totalitarian power and does not mete out sadistic punishment – with which a believer yearns to identify. The Saudi king, meanwhile, is a tyrannical entity to which Obama can subjugate his individuality – and through which he can vicariously experience a feeling of power and purpose. This is the process of negative identification that every leftist must practice and that 'United in Hate' documents is at the heart of every leftist's main driving force," said Jamie Glazov, author of the book "United in Hate" in an interview with The Activity Pit, a right wing website.
A honest, but careless mistake in protocol by President Obama has been pounced upon like a lion on red meat, by right wingers seeking to portray Obama as a weak kneed appeaser who will sacrifice US interests to satisfy the demands of Arab concerns.
This is reminiscent of charges leveled at former President George W. Bush that accused him of being a slave to oil interests. They pointed to photos and agreements as proof that he was seeking to "undermine" America by cow towing to the Oilgarchy of the Middle East.
Such bile filled rhetoric serves no purpose, but to stir up the extreme edges of the political spectrum to "take" action against the nefarious designs of their wicked opponent.Countless websites will be devoted to providing "the truth" about the iniquitous nature of the (insert name of ideology) and how they are causing the destruction of America/humanity.
This is what I called pseudo-dialectics. It takes legitimate issues such as energy independence and how the US should deal with resource rich totalitarian governments, and degrades them to the point where nothing substantiative can penetrate the morass of vitriol.What is leftover is mutual denunciations, recriminations, and chest thumping moralizing.The end result is the continued erosion of respect, the hardening of prejudices, and the narrowing of view points.
That can only have a deleterious impact upon rational discussion of the multitude of complex issues facing our nation. It is one thing to have disagree--human experience guarantees that--but it is quite another to revile someone because they happen to see an issue differently.
Will humans ever grow up? Will we ever be able to discuss politics in an intelligent, respectful manner? Judging by what I have seen and heard in my life, I doubt it.
Comments
Ryan, while I applaud the general theme of your piece here which seems to read "let's stay above the fray," I disagree wholeheartedly with the idea that this "appearing to bow" incident should be the jumping off point for that conversation. It gives Obama a pass for this significant mistake. I am a conservative and though I won't join the demagoguery against Obama like my fellow patriots, I can't just write this off as a "careless mistake in protocol." I won't feign anger or fed-up-ness about this but mainly because I believe it is emblematic of a very contorted view of the place America has in this world by this administration. It is a view clearly expressed by Obama from the debates and thus my opinion of how he may serve in foreign settings was already formed by the time I learned of this bow.
I believe the go-team mentality of these parties is destroying the American political experience but I don't believe that Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia is the event from which we start preaching for all of us to get over it and grow up.
It's hard to "discuss politics in an intelligent, respectful manner" as you put it if, as the leader of the most powerful country in the world, you're placing yourself in a subservient position by bowing to a ruler of another country.
It's typical of liberals to dismiss events such as these as "trivial" as they only look at the surface and not the deeper meaning of an event or act. The law of "unintentional consequences" is a law likely not even in your scan if you just want to "move on."
You dismiss it as "careless mistake in protocol." You mean just one of quite a few he's amassed recently in foreign policy gaffes? You mean just one in which he has an entire organization (the State Department) to know the protocol associated with visits such as these? are you really that naive to believe he didn't know exactly what he was doing? He was sending a message and got called on it. Honest? You bet he was. Careless? No. He was quite purposeful in his actions. Don't you think 'careless' would be even more demeaning for a president who was touted to be inexperienced in foreign policy? You're doing him a great disservice if you believe he was careless.
I think the MSM and pundits are missing the point. Obama was raised and educated in Muslim tradition including study of the Quran. In his late 20s, he converted to Christianity. However, I believe he is unable to relinquish his spiritual roots and it must be remembered that Saudi Arabia is the protector of the most holy Muslim sites, including Mecca, where all Muslims men are required to visit once in their lives. This deep belief could be the cause of the bow to the King of Saudi Arabia.
If Bush had done this, it would be in every newspaper in six inch headlines. It would dominate every TV news commentary. Everyone would be accusing Bush. But since it is Obama, everyone gives him a pass, denying that it was a bow. We're not completely stupid or blind - it was obviously a bow! Whatever hs reason for doing so, Obama OBVIOUSLY bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia. And the terrorists saw it and were pleased.
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