(Thumbnail image from AFP)
U.S. President Barack Obama’s bow to the Japanese emperor is blowing up in the American media. Pundits are discussing whether Obama’s bend at the waist just broke Japanese custom or is breaking U.S. foreign relations.
For more on Obama’s controversial body language, we take a look at perspectives from Sean Hannity, MSNBC, The New York Times, Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann.
So why is such a simple act causing such a stir? Sean Hannity says on his show on FOX News it’s all about how the U.S. is viewed internationally.
“Now wasn’t this president elected to restore our alliances and repair our image abroad? Well, now he’s embarrassed the U.S. and one of our allies, and he did it all at the same time. Now that takes real effort.”
While appearing on MSNBC, conservative blogger Matt Lewis says the bow is not only a matter of manners but also portrays Obama’s worldview.
“I just think it's a mistake, it's a faux pax, but I think it also speaks to a larger world view of a president who believes that symbolism, that by making everybody love us, and bowing to them is going to make people respect us."
The New York Times David Sanger agrees in his blog The Caucus that Obama made a mistake, but not the same mistake others have identified.
“So did President Obama violate protocol? Well, yes, but not by bowing. He made the mistake of both shaking hands and bowing at the same time, a big breach of etiquette. The truth was that he was supposed to choose one or the other.”
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh says Obama’s bow is a reflection of how Obama thinks of himself.
“Obama wants to be bowed to someday. That's my interpretation. He's over there bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia, bowing to the emperor of Japan. There are pictures all over the Internet of all kinds of world leaders meeting the emperor of Japan not bowing, simply shaking hands.”
The Guardian’s Justin McCurry defends Obama’s actions and insists it was just a bow at the waist, not a bow to Japan’s power. He says the move…
“...worked the American right into a lather over what they see as their president's unseemly deference to a symbol of hereditary power. [The handshake and bow] were nothing of the sort: …Obama wasn't deferring to anyone.”
Keith Olbermann on MSNBC points out the track record of past presidential bows and says Obama’s move is no different than those who came before.
“Here's Richard Nixon bowing to Hirohito in 1971- Hirohito, the emperor who attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, and they were on U.S. soil at the time, and he bowed to him.
Here's Eisenhower 1959 bowing to Charles De Gaulle of France, bowing to France? Has the GOP excommunicated Ike postmortem yet?
Just for good measure here is Bush holding hands and kissing Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.”
So what do you think? Was Obama’s bow just a simple faux pax or does it send a significant message?
Writer: Kelsey Proud
Producer: Jennifer Herseim
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