Just freaking embarrassing:
That is a picture of the President of the United States bowing to the Saudi King. American Thinker links over to Miss Manners which says Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs because that act signified the monarch’s power over his subjects.
So with the Queen of England he shook her hand, with two hands mind you, but will bow in submission to the Saudi King.
Speechless……what has become of our country?
UPDATE
I think we’ve all heard by now that Obama’s gift to the Queen was a Ipod. His gifts are classy eh? Lets look at what President Bush gave to the Queen:
President and Mrs. Bush gave Her Majesty a bronze statuette “High Desert Princess” with a personal inscription on the bottom of the base. It is a replica of the original life size statue that is located in front of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas.
President and Mrs. Bush gave The Prince Philip an exclusive sterling silver eagle box by Tiffany & Co. with personal inscription on the inside lid.
President and Mrs. Bush gave Their Majesties a leather presentation box filled with a collection of documents from the National Archives. One of the items was a copy of an original letter from President Roosevelt to her father, King George, written in 1938. There were also photos from previous royal visits and a DVD of the footage from the Queen’s visit to the United States when she was Princess Elizabeth in 1951.
This country has elected a complete tool as the President.
More here.
UPDATE
Completely agree with The Anchoress take on the video:
I don’t like this video. Spin it any way you like, Obama’s knee is bending, and the head is going very low, almost low enough to kiss a ring, but then Obama’s smooth movements become awkward and stilted, reflecting interrupted momentum – like a batter checking his swing. This looks very much like a man catching himself in mid-bow and suddenly remembering that he should not.
I recall the press making a big stink when President Bush held hands with a Saudi Prince; we were told by all the pundits that it was a “very revealing” gesture, one that “demonstrated” Bush’s fealty to the oil-producers.
I’m quite certain, however, that we’re going to hear Obama’s action – which certainly looks like a checked bow, to me – explained away, with a sniff of disdain. “Actually the president looking for something on the rug,” or “anticipating a step” (which would make no sense, given Abudullah’s height). Perhaps we’ll be told that Obama “has a head cold” and “was stifling a sneeze” or “was suppressing a cough,” or “is very, very tired, and momentarily betrayed his exhaustion; saving the world is very tiring.”
I think it was a checked bow.
See author page
Is he bowing to the Custodian of the Two Mosques? To the sovereign whose wealth funds hold a few hundred billion in Treasury obligations? Or to the head of the country that affects the price and supply of oil?
Whatever is on his mind, it’s totally inappropriate. The US needs to demonstrate strength, independence and resolve, not submission.
I believe Michelle Malkin has my response – I will not submit!
First on the bowing… seriously… Is this how discussions about policy are made by ginning up a photo which shows the president leaning forward, no context, just a snapshot. I seriously doubt he was bowing to King Abdullah.
Yeah, I do believe some people want not only President Obama’s policies to fail, but him to fail personally.
As to the gift the President made… this was NOT a “State Visit” and the comparisons of gifts, again, is laughable.
People used to snark about W’s relationship with the House of Saud, but he never publically comported himself as their subject…
@blast:
What do you think he was doing, picking up a dime? Oops! Youtube is out with it, that didn’t take long.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/04/forget-queen-obama-bows-to-saudi-leader.html
I’m confused….I thought Bush was a big, fat, poopy head for holding the prince’s hand so he wouldn’t fall down. Now its cool to bow to the same guy? Oh wait — I’m sorry, I almost forgot, this is the age of Obama and he can do no wrong.
And to blast — I would say that the iPod, the DVDs to Brown and the bowing is an idication of who we elected. Seriously if he can’t pick out a decent gift or know protocol, how can we possibly think he has the capacity to handle larger issues? If I were going to meet the queen I’d bring a better gift than an iPod, and I am willing to bet the President has more resources at his disposal than I do.
@Raymond in DC: YOU NAILED IT!
Obama’s just behaving like a good Muslim.
That is as inconclusive as the still pic, I am sure we will find out what was “happening” but he was not bowing. It appears as though his right shoulder drops as he extended his arm, kinda an “awkward bow” if that is what you are calling a bow. I bet someone asks the White House for a response and we will get more detail.
@blast:
blast,
You’re going to get awfully tired if you plan to excuse each misstep this man will make over the remainder of his term. (Just be glad you didn’t draw Biden Gaff clean-up detail, it would be like those low ranking clowns that follow behind the circus animals with shovels, brooms, and wheel barrows!)
I saw the video, it was a definite bow from the waist down.
Which is outrageous, as the U.S. bows to no one
Actually, President Obama represents ALL of us, like it or not. I don’t expect Obama is/was or ever will be perfect… and there have been things that he has done that I find totally objectionable as well. However, these diversions away from reality or non-nonsensical “issues” or feigned outrage about some “perceived slight” or misapprehension does not help the USA when drum beated from our own soil in a SUPER partisan way.
@blast:
Wow! I wonder if the left ever had such a consideration between 2001 and 2008? Tell me, blast, did that ever once cross your mind when Bush was in office? If so, please provide the details.
TFHR, blast suffers from major BDS and now OWS (obama worship syndrome).
Blast doesn’t consider himself a liberal, but has about 90% of their views
including major denial of reality.
Obama bows to the saudi prince, and blast sees a conspiracy to smear obama
and see him fail. Cookoo!
Actually I supported President Bush in 2000, and most recently when he was attacked with the shoe during his trip to Iraq, I was outraged. It was not funny and was humiliating to the USA. When Bush made gaffes, I did not jump on any bandwagon to point out his flaws. My issues with President Bush have been on real substance. I never wanted him to be weak or to fail, on any issue, including ones that I might have disagreed with. President Obama has been in office too short to have the “Bush hangover” to be concluded. Just like when President Bush took office and the economy was slowing due to the “Clinton Hangover”. (The idea of a hangover was something I picked up from MikeA’s).
So instead of real issues, we have false bows, outrage over nothing. When Obama was elected we as a country were able to utilize his (Obama’s) worldwide popularity to benefit our country, why waste it by degrading it?
False outrage over nothing?
Since when does a US President bow to a foreign king? NEVER!
Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, Lexington, Concord, Cowpens, Brandywine…
Fast forward to Pearl Harbor… Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima…. Shall I continue?
Seeing this makes me ill. If that makes me a old fashioned fool, then I welcome the appelation.
Blast, considering you have repeated some of the most vile lies about
Bush-the type that the most deranged BDS sufferers spewed-your so called
support of him rings hollow to me.
You didn’t mindlessly support Bush, so why are you doing it with obama?
looks like a blow job.
I’m going to go ahead and reccommend that most of the people posting comments here need to attend college (or at least get GED’s) Knowledge is power you redneck jackasses. git er’ done.
boy you right-wing nuts never let up
Any chance that you can explain why four other people in the photo are also looking down at the carpet?
W. kissed the Saudi monarch, as well as holding hands: but much more importantly, he, his father and his brother had long time financial and personal relationships with the House of Saud.
It seems that the same people who were hysterical over Michelle Obama’s failure to curtsy are now outraged at Barak Obamaa’s bow.
Wow, can’t believe I stumbled onto this pathetic blog. Damn you, memeorandum.
@Shek:
The door is right over there =====>
Hey busTARD, ever think they might be bowing too?
As for carney freak, I’ve met many a college educated idiot liberal. Libs can be led to knowledge, but you can’t make them think-as you prove.
I also love the tolerant and non-stereotypical posts you hypocrites, er, leftists have posted.
Here is a photo just to remind y’all.
http://letfreedomrain.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-bow-to-saudi-king-and-rights.html
@bbbustard:
Michelle did curtsy, I believe it was the Telegraph that explained how she performed a quick, tiny curtsy as she greeted the Queen even though it was not necessary.
As for “W” holding hands and kissing the Saudi King, that is a common custom, President Bush was acting appropriately. Sharing one kiss per cheek if they are aquaintenances, two kisses per cheek if they are really close. Bowing is a sign of submission in Arab culture, unlike East Asia (Japan, China, Korea), a quick bow to one another is a greeting. Perhaps Obama was confused, I doubt it, as aware of Obama’s roots as we all are, we should be curious of what impression the King was left with, he would also be well informed of Obama’s background.
Jymn, I won’t bother to visit your blog to see if you are using that photoshop to misinform your readers, hopefully you aren’t, that would be terribly irresponsible.
D. CarneyCome back when you get some of that “power.”
The filter swallowed my post, P&T.
@blast:
blast,
You said, “Actually I supported President Bush in 2000….” What? Are you saying you voted for Bush or you felt that he won fair and square in Florida? I’ll remind you the man did not get sworn in until Inauguration Day in JAN 01, which brings me back to my original question to you:
Did you ever give Bush the consideration you seek for Obama now?
The shoe thing. Well now blast, you’ve really gone out on a limb there to bravely throw your body between the outgoing President and a wingnut media moonbat! Did you feel that Dan Rather was throwing something foul smelling and filthy at OUR President when he hurled lies at him on the eve of an election? The list is so long with regard to the injustices the left wing media served upon this country during Bush’s terms that I don’t know where to start but I’ll conclude by pointing out that Rather lost his job and the rest failed to carry out theirs with even the slightest degree of objectivity or even the faintest thread of intellectual honesty. You should get a job at the NYT!
Words Fail —- in English…..but not in Arabic:
een aldeen omak! Inti mafish Mukh. Hmar!
And the Lefty morons were accusing Bush of being bad because he held that camel jockey’s hand? (ok, that’s repulsive too, but not submissive.)
O’Blunder is a spineless total loser!
New video:
Apparently the Obama people are trying to say he was picking something off the floor….I mean really? That’s the excuse? Look at that video and you can see his hand never reached for the ground.
And all we hear is crickets from the media….shocker
At least he didn’t let the King’s citizens fly planes into the trade towers, pentagon, and removed by Mata.
swilly
Yeah, klintoon the klown did that. He wasn’t just blowing the muslim scum he was blowing the chinese too. Who do you think paid for his library and contribute millions to his supposed “non-profit”? jughead is bowing to the terrorist because just like he said in his first interview with aljazeera, he is going to kiss the muslim’s ass. He embarasses the Office of the President and thereby America and shows weakness to the enemies of this country who are laughing their asses off all in one fell swoop. Cause you know, its all about him. Wonder how many people are going to die because of his arrogance. he and shebacca’s lack of class and ability to handle the pressures of the job are becoming more evident every time they appear in public and he opens his lying pie hole. You liberal morons better enjoy while you can, backlash is coming and it ain’t going to be pretty.
Nobody could have embarrassed the USA more than Bush and Co. The right-wing-nuts are just so full of good ideas! Look where the country is now! WTF! Does anyone on the right have a f-g brain?
I’m willing to give Obama a benefit of a doubt, and write this off as a simple error in protocol, nothing more. When George W. Bush was in office, I thoroughly HATED it when sneering leftists would leap upon any public error he’d make and parade it around as some kind of ‘proof’ of his villainy/stupidity/both. How Obama ultimately prosecutes the war against Islamofascism and contends with Iran’s nuclear ambitions will say far more about him than any diplomatic gesture or flowery platitude-filled speech. And reasoned argument — not snarking hatred/derangement — should be our M.O. when the pendulum inevitably swings back (though the 2006 and 2008 elections DO seem to contradict this).
Having said that, any leftist here (and this includes Barack “I inherited this” Obama himself) who ALSO thinks they can conveniently get away with laying our present economic mess on GWB and/or ‘right-wingers’, without even giving a nanosecond’s thought to the Democrats who took over Congress in ’07, or such subprime cheerleaders for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as Frank, Dodd and BHO better damned well think again.
Rather than go on and on about the facts that I believe you are not aware of and thus the reason for your perspective regarding 9/11, “Islamofascism”, and the current financial meltdown, I will point you to three highly credible sources that may change your view in a big way if you have the patience to view and/or read them.
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/107/
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/650
http://www.georgesoros.com/crisis-and-what-to-do110608
Cheers,
Swilly
Thanks for the lefty links, Swilly. I will take a look at them. Promise. In the same spirit of open-mindedness, I hope you do take a look through the FA categories related to 9/11, Iraq, al-Qaeda, Saddam documents, etc.
Not to interrupt the Word/swilly lovefest here, but on the topic of the “bow”…
I was catching a story on Frontline (or was it Jim Lehrer? A PBS show tonight) about the Saudi arms deal negotiated by Margaret Thatcher with Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan on the Saudi’s behalf.
During the show’s story, thet were showing the powerhouse Prince with his many friends, from Reagan, Carter, Thatcher, etal. What really surprised me was seeing then PM Margaret Thatcher greet the Prince in two separate videos… and on each time she did a curtsy before shaking his hand. Okay… stunned, I was.
But then, being as the British have a monarchy, perhaps they just make it a practice to equally respect other monarchies. In which case, if the masses get these videos off that telecast, you can expect a new tactic of blowback. ala… if they bow to Queen Elizabeth, why not to the Saudi royalty?
This is where the plot thickens…. neither of the Obama’s formally “bowed” to the Queen. Michelle merely shook hands, and Obama did a mini-head bob. Certainly nothing on the level of his bow to the Saudi royalty.
As to the rumors of the WH statements that he was picking something up… this video, zooming in on the Obama bow, clearly shows that not to be the case. (H/T to BeltwaySnark
Lovefest? 🙁
Swilly,
I watched/listened to about half of the video in the first link over the weekend. This is typical liberal “intellectual” distortions of reality that one finds in many universities, indoctrinating college students to leftist perspective and anti-American/anti-Israel propaganda.
Mata,
I watched that second video (it’s actually the first time I’ve seen a video clip of the act) and I think more is being made out of it than is warranted. Personally, I think “so what?”.
Ok, so you’re not interested in history or the causal links to events. Yes, the darn universities and their educating of students. Turns them into liberals straight away! Maybe that’s because they are reading and getting the facts? Here’s the best explanation of why liberals are less “anti-American” than the so-called “conservatives” in America.
“You know, patriotism is not a matter of wearing a flag in your lapel, not a matter of this or not—patriotism is not supporting the government. Patriotism is supporting the principles that the government is supposed to stand for.” You know, so we need to redefine these things which we have come—which have been thrown at us and which we’ve imbibed without thinking, not thinking, “Oh, what really is patriotism?” If we start really thinking about what it is, then we will reject these cries that you’re not patriotic, and we’ll say, “Patriotism is not supporting the government.” When the government does bad things, the most patriotic thing you can do is to criticize the government, because that’s the Declaration of Independence. That’s our basic democratic charter. The Declaration of Independence says governments are set up by the people to—they’re artificial creations. They’re set up to ensure certain rights, the equal right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. So when governments become destructive of those ends, the Declaration said, “it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish” the government. That’s our basic democratic charter. People have forgotten what it is. It’s OK to alter or abolish the government when the government violates its trust. And then you are being patriotic. I mean, the government violates its trust, the government is being unpatriotic. – H. Zinn
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/258
Are you still in college?
What amazes me, Swilly, is the lack of self-awareness on your part. Citing Howard Zinn, linking to Soros and Fisk as though these partisan elitist so-called “intellectuals” are telling “the truth” rather than perceiving that it’s “truth” as seen through their distorted worldview lens filter.
I did you the courtesy of checking out your links (as though we’ve never seen that garbage before). Yet I see no evidence that you even know what the other side of the arguments are, if all you think of conservatives as represented and summed up by a Zinn quote. Absolutely classic!
Btw, Zinn himself has said the world would have been better off had America never existed. And yet we conservatives are the “anti-Americans”?
Been there, indoctrinated by that. It’s only when I left college that I realized how much BS was fed me.
Try again.
@Wordsmith: Oh my… where did you dig up this moonbat? I don’t think this one escaped from MY cage…..
P.S. Did anyone else notice in that video update that Obama is talking with another leader after the Queen had sat down signaling that the rest of the leaders should also sit? He keeps yakking it up and is the last to sit down. HOW RUDE IS THAT?
@Mike’s America:
Well, the moon will be full tomorrow night.
It’s not surprising that the bats are a flyin’.
Just to set the record straight for people who believe this was anything other than a bow, please explain the following:
1) The king extended his hand, then had to lower it to meet Obama’s.
2) The king and Obama’s hands were plainly together, and even appear to pump up and down while Obama is bending over. (Obama was in the middle of shaking hands as he bowed; do you typically look for things on the floor while shaking hands?)
3) Obama’s left hand remains on his leg until he stands back up, at which point he moves it to join his other on the king’s hand. (The WH claim of Obama grasping the king’s hand with both of his own only took place after Obama returned to the upright position.)
4) Obama’s head dips below the level of the king’s shoulders.
5) Nobody else appears to be examining the floor, although the men on either side of Obama and the king appear to look down in order to follow Obama’s motion.
To me, the fact that Obama bowed to a foreign king is disgusting but unsurprising, and I can’t imagine this having become a major issue or even coming to the attention of much of the country if it had just been ignored by the MSM and WH. However, when the WH released a flagrant lie about the event and the MSM conveyed that lie, the entire country was made aware of both the event and the WH’s willingness to use utter falsehoods as flimsy cover. Now they’ve got a real issue that isn’t just going to die. The knowledge that Obama felt the need to bow to the Saudi king is going to be floating around in everyone’s mind for the rest of his time in office.
“The knowledge that Obama felt the need to bow to the Saudi king is going to be floating around in everyone’s mind for the rest of his time in office.”
Yes, floating around the empty minds of morons on the right. Get a clue. This is right up there with Clinton getting a blow job from Lewinsky. Who the hell with a brain cares?
@Swill:
Anyone with half the brains of a goose understands why Obie’s bow of deference is importance.
Now we know why you don’t get it.
In middle eastern cultures, for males to hold hands and even give a kiss to each other is common and indicates genuine friendship. Bowing to another however represents subservience. Obama would have had to bend much further then that to pick-up something from the ground. (Unless his arms are not of the standard human proportion.) In that culture he should not have done it at all. This is yet another example of his naivety in International social protocols. At least he didn’t prostrate himself. (Maybe he’s holding that back for later.)
On the other hand in Japan and many other Asian countries, mutual bowing to each other is much more akin to a salute. It displays the honor and respect they have for each other. The depth of the bow is important, and for a forieng leader it should be little more than a nod. I’d have no problem with a President giving a friendly slight nodding bow there, because it doesn’t carry the same meaning of subservience.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/pictures/ZZ72682359.jpg
Uh, an iPod was not the ONLY gift he gave the Queen. I’m sure FOX forgot to report that. She was also given a rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers (I’m certain you don’t know the name, so Google it and realize exactly what she was given). And the Queen gave the Obama’s her standard gift: a silver framed signed photograph of herself and the Duke of Edinburgh. Now that’s classy.