Obama has achieved yet another milestone. Earlier this week, the first black president became the first president to ever openly criticize his own country in front of a foreign audience and now has also just become the first president to ever bow before a foreign king. Congrats, Mr. President! We should all feel proud. The White House says this was not a bow, but a simple double hand-shake to a shorter man. Really? I’ve used the double hand-shake before and never did it bring me within kissing distance of someone’s boots. Perhaps I’ve been doing it wrong.
At best this is a major gaffe attributable yet again to lack of political experience that will be pasted all over the walls of the Muslim world regardless how Obama explains it away; at worst it is a genuine gesture of admiration, respect, affection and subservience to a man who punishes homosexuals and considers women to be inferior, subhuman, unentitled creatures. Either way, this is one of Obama’s biggest mistakes and it should not be ignored.
On a lighter note, a tip of the hat to the President for surprising the troops in Iraq. I was wondering if he would make the detour and I was glad to see him do it, especially given his history of criticizing the efforts in Iraq and calling it a mistake. He praised the troops, which was also refreshing. He even said they succeeded in every task they had been given, which came very close to admitting that the surge was a success, something he has yet to admit. For once I would like to see some humility from this man. When he says America has been arrogant in its foreign policy, perhaps he should demonstrate the opposite by admitting that he was wrong about the surge, that we accomplished a good thing in Iraq by toppling a brutal regime. But I’m not holding my breath. After all, the chosen one is never wrong, and we’re the arrogant ones for believing anything different.
At best this is a major gaffe attributable yet again to lack of political experience that will be pasted all over the walls of the Muslim world regardless how Obama explains it away; at worst it is a genuine gesture of admiration, respect, affection and subservience to a man who punishes homosexuals and considers women to be inferior, subhuman, unentitled creatures. Either way, this is one of Obama’s biggest mistakes and it should not be ignored.
On a lighter note, a tip of the hat to the President for surprising the troops in Iraq. I was wondering if he would make the detour and I was glad to see him do it, especially given his history of criticizing the efforts in Iraq and calling it a mistake. He praised the troops, which was also refreshing. He even said they succeeded in every task they had been given, which came very close to admitting that the surge was a success, something he has yet to admit. For once I would like to see some humility from this man. When he says America has been arrogant in its foreign policy, perhaps he should demonstrate the opposite by admitting that he was wrong about the surge, that we accomplished a good thing in Iraq by toppling a brutal regime. But I’m not holding my breath. After all, the chosen one is never wrong, and we’re the arrogant ones for believing anything different.
11 comments:
Barach Obama performs with great skill and charm before the TV Camera Lens, and he has a winning smile, and a nice family. He was very efficient with "organizing neighborhoods" in South Chicago.
All of that experience didn't cut it with the foreign leadership; he returned home empty-handed.
What's next?
He has never managed a Taco-Bell, or risked investment in a small business, has never donned a military uniform, knows nothing about over-seas diplomacy, or how to deal with a loony Ayatollah bent on "wiping Israeli off the map", but he's quick to often remind us that he "inherited the Bush-Cheney mess".
Iraq is forever rid of the Butcher of Bagdad, and his two brutal sons. And there's the memory of the vicious Kuwait Invasion, stopped quickly by American Military Applied Force by General 'Stormin' Norman' Schwartkopf Troopers!
Bowing Low to the King of Saudi-Arabia's Abdullah was a terribly embarrassing moment for any American with a memory, and a back-bone. reb
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www.lazyonebenn.blogspot.com
When A U.S President Bows Low -
to the Saudi King Abdullah, it was at that precise moment in time when all Americans should feel shock, and a profound revulsion and shame for what has happened to us. -gba -
- Greybeard Albert -
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John, I am disappointed that you think that was a bow. President Obama did not bow to the king. As he approached and reached for the king's hand, one of his contacts popped out onto the floor, and as he tried to retrieve it, he reached down but unable to see it, he came up smiling in embarrassment. I have seen other photos from other angles, and even in the photo here, it is obvious that all the men are looking at the floor to the right of the king.
I don't know---some people just have to jump at anything that makes Obama look like he is a Muslim and not a Christian.
At least he didn't kiss the raghead on both cheeks like Bush and Cheney did.
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
Aunty Em, Since presidential med records are not easily accessible, how do you know Obama has contacts?
I really believe your partisan slip is showing, ma'am.
It was a Full, to-the-waist, one- second BOW, signifying humble subservience to the King of the Saudi! I spent a few years in that totally miserable place, and fortunately much of it was in an American Compound.
robert, from oliver springs
The Origins Of These Heavily Funded Hate Bush/Cheney Mantras began in 2004, (see George Soros, Daily Kos, Huffington Post)...and from a political perspective, they are very effective in garnering votes.
"Impeach Bush/Cheney!" they'll shout.
People that oft repeat these inane slogans will eventually see that they are the victims of Political Action Committees, or PAC groups.
It's pure Ivan Pavlov mental "conditioning", and must be viewed as unhealthy to our political process.
reb
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www.lazyonebenn.blogspot.com
Footnote:
reb sez,
As I Approach the Prime of My Life,
I find it rewarding to create informative material for busy people that need a quick reference:
See SnakeHunters Archives, Aug 29, 2008 for "The Mind, A Sensitive Sponge", a Pavlov illustration.
reb
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Em,
If what you said is true, then why didn't the White House issue that as an explanation? Seems pretty logical to me. I would have even given him the benefit of the doubt on it since it would be hard for me to fathom ANY president bowing to a Saudi king.
But the White House NEVER said such a thing. Their explanation was that Obama was giving a double handshake to a much shorter man, hence the "appearance" that he was bowing.
Em, you're smarter than this. Fondness and loyalty aside, there is no way you can possibly accept the White House's explanation. Nor is it reasonable to come up with your own. The picture speaks for itself. Common sense must prevail even when you don't want to believe it.
This has nothing to do with partisanship. I believe Bush was wrong to kiss him on the cheek as well. We have no reason to display any signs of respect or affection towards this man. Bush was wrong, so was Obama. What they did was flat-out embarrassing. The other people were looking down probably because they thought Obama dropped something...the thought that he actually bowed to this pig never crossed their mind, nor should it.
You can be disappointed in me all you want, but at least I'm honest about what I see. I call it as it is, regardless who I'm talking about. Obama made a major mistake. You and he can explain it any way you want, but the American people aren't fools. What he did was disgraceful and it undermined his efforts at building respect for his administration. It's hard to respect someone who bows down to you.
You can support him all you want, you can like him all you want, but don't allow your fondness and support to keep you from seeing his flaws and calling him on his mistakes. When we do that, we set ourselves up for tyranny.
And NEVER did I suggest that he was a Muslim. Stop with the straw men. I am embarrassed because OUR president bowed to a paternalistic, chauvanistic, masogynistic egomaniac who is driving up the price of oil and sticking it to common Americans simply because he can. This doesn't make him a Muslim, it makes him a sellout.
And since you brought it up, I don't think Obama is a Muslim. Nor do I believe he is a Christian. I think he is a humanist. I think he is his own god and thus practices moral relativism, defining right and wrong according to his own feelings.
He is too arrogant, too paternalistic, too collectivistic and too unwilling to believe in the existence of good and evil to practice Islam or Christianity. These characteristics don't fit well in a monotheistic religion. He believes that humans are their own god and thus craft their own rules and principles. I think you'll see this more and more as time goes by.
Dan Friedman > to Snake Hunters,
YANKEES DOWN PIRATES, 4-0
Credit where it's due: The honorable and brave Capt. Phillips, the skilled, professional US Navy personnel, and their commander-in-chief who let them do their job.
DF, NYC
John---I don't know what happened to the comment I just tried to send to you (I got an error message when I clicked on "Publish Your Comment"), so here goes again:
You said: "You can support him all you want, you can like him all you want, but don't allow your fondness and support to keep you from seeing his flaws and calling him on his mistakes. When we do that, we set ourselves up for tyranny."
I don't feel I am setting myself up for tyranny. I don't support nor am I as fond of Obama anymore than I have been of any of the other thirteen Presidents I have lived under. I just want to give him the benefit of the doubt, because the episode with the Saudi king was so unbelievably awkward, it couldn't have been a bow, in my opinion. It certainly wasn't a bow from the waist, the way the Japanese bow, and Bill O'Reilly said that he had heard that Obama lost a contact lens or that someone had also said it was a "soft" bow, whatever that means.
When I first saw the video, I thought, my goodness, he must be so jet-lagged, he looks like he almost lost consciousness. He bent one knee and his left hand was hanging near the floor, then he suddenly straightened up laughing and looking embarrassed. Did he almost faint or was he trying to retrieve something? The postures of the other men also were so awkward, not looking straight ahead as you would think. The posture of the one guy with his back to us makes it look like he was leaning in to see what had fallen on the floor. The other ragheads seemed to be looking at the floor to the king's right too.
Something like that happened to me when my husband took me to visit his relatives in Mexico City. When I was being introduced to one gentleman, I sank to my knees as I was holding his hand. People there gasped and leaned forward to see what was happening. The astonished gentleman helped me to my feet, and I came up laughing, embarrassed. I wondered if they thought I was going to kiss the guy's ring. My husband's aunt quickly explained that I was unaccustomed to the altitude there and it had made me weak in the knees.
My husband and I do see Obama's faux pas, such as when he shook the hand of the Marine standing at attention next to Marine One as he was boarding the first time. He is not to even notice the Marine, and he should salute only an officer who greets him.
Also, yesterday when Obama was in Mexico City, my husband noticed a breach in protocol, not on Obama's part. As Obama and Calderon walked towards some men in military uniforms holding the Mexican flag and the American flag on standards, the Mexican flag was dipped and then the American flag was dipped in the direction of the Presidents.
My husband was furious. He was in the color guard in the Marines (he is a Korean War Vet), and he said that our flag is not to be dipped to anything or anyone. The only flag to be run up over the American flag is the "church" flag (blue cross on white ground). Our flag takes second place only to God on Sunday mornings on bases.
About that double handshake: Bill Clinton told the Israeli premier at Camp David that when shaking a Muslim's hand, do it with both hands so that he can't embrace or kiss you. It says "Keep your distance". The Israeli was so afraid that the treaturous Arafat would kiss him if they shook hands.
I believe Obama when he says he found Jesus. He was baptized in an Afro-centric church. They teach there that Jesus was black. For all we know Jesus might have looked like Bin Laden, since Jesus was a Jew, Semitic, and not Anglo-Saxon as he is so often portrayed. You see many blond blue-eyed Israelis now, but they came from Northern Europe, Germany, Russia. They are Ashkenaz, not Sephardic like native Jews.
To Robert from Oliver Springs:
I've never been to Saudi--you couldn't drag me there. I hate ragheads since I as a woman would not abide what their women do. I have relatives serving as embassy attaches, in Riyahd, I think it is. they send me photos. Good life--hob-nobbing with the royals in thier palaces and with the Ambassadors from other countries in their embassies at fancy dinners.
Yes, I know about not leaving the compounds; if a Western woman goes out with bare legs, the morality police are likely to spray their legs with blue paint. I have other relatives woking for American oil companies who trained the Saudis in their oil fields. SO THERE! How dare you tell me that my "partisan slip is showing, maam". That sounds so partisan and chauvinistic; you disrespect my opinions as a woman, sir.
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
Em, fair enough. I also would like to give our President the benefit of the doubt. But, again, if any of those things were true then the White House should have issued a statement saying so. The explanation they give makes it very hard to give Obama the benefit of the doubt on this one. Sometimes, common sense just has to take hold.
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