Mr. Obama has it wrong. A deep bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito shows not respect for the Japanese tradition - as that tradition applies to those ruled by the Emperor, the Japanese citizens themselves. It shows deference and subservience, an overt desire to ingratiate himself with his hosts.
There is a reason Presidents don't bow to foreign leaders, and Mr. Obama doesn't understand it. Perhaps it's because he was raised and educated in Indonesia - which really shouldn't matter at this point, but I'm searching for explanations here. Presidents don't bow to other foreign leaders because an American president is the equal of the leaders he is meeting, at a minimum. Former President Clinton was taken to task by the NY Times for nearly bowing once. Ah, but that was before GWB, when America accumulated so much for which to apologize. Scott Johnson at Powerline has more:
Obama's breach of protocol is of a piece with the substance of his foreign policy. He means to teach Americans to bow before monarchs and tyrants. He embodies the ideological multiculturalism that sets the United States on the same plane as other regimes based on tribal privilege and royal bloodlines. He gives expressive form to the idea that the United States now willingly prostrates itself before the rest of the world. He declares that the United States is a country like any other, only worse, because we have so much for which to apologize.
This lack of understanding of his position in the world is problematic. So is his clear belief in an inherently flawed America, flawed, at least, until his magnificent ascension. I can guarantee you that you won't catch another world leader bowing to Mr. Obama in similar fashion. Submissiveness does not equal respect, and it doesn't earn it either.
This is Hot Air's Obamateurism of the Day, and Donald Douglas rounds up a host of other links.
