Oh OBAMA!

Without adding any kind of judgement for or against Obama (this video says it all), his recent visit to Japan stirred up the silliest controversy ever.

The other day the Drudge Report ran a headline showing the Leader of the Free World bowing to the Japanese emperor, who is clearly not bowing back (and doesn’t…ever, apparently). The reaction? HORROR!

There was even a micro discussion on Fox News Sunday where the panelists (pro-State hacks from both political parties) actually criticized the president for bowing because (and I’m paraphrasing) “American presidents just don’t bow to foreign leaders”.

Do American presidents shake people’s hands, or are they not supposed to show any kind of friendliness? How arrogant is it to assume that shaking hands is the default “normal” way to greet people around the world? I have meetings and human interactions every day where I don’t touch a single person, but bow to plenty (not a deep one, mind you), and it’s not because I’m supplicating myself. That’s just how it’s done around here…you know…in JAPAN where Obama came to visit. I would hope that he’d at least make an attempt to bow to everyone he met, not just the emperor.

If Obama went to France and kissed the cheek of Sarkozy, would Obama be accused of coming on to him?

Am I wrong here?

UPDATE: I actually thought I was a bit late in writing this post, but the fervor continues! There are actually people who are “outraged” at Obama bowing to a Japanese person. These critics better not ever come to Japan, lest they witness the embarrassing spectacle of tens of thousands of Americans living here and bowing to their clearly inferior underclass of conquered Japanese on a daily basis!

Money quotes:
Bill Bennett: “It’s ugly. I don’t want to see it. We don’t defer to emperors. We don’t defer to kings or emperors.”

Gosh Bill, even powerless ones?
Bill Kristol: “I’ll bet if you look at pictures of world leaders over 20 years meeting the emperor in Japan, they don’t bow.”

Maybe not to the emperor, but I seem to recall the first president Bush bowing pretty deeply into the prime minister’s lap back in 1992 though!

In this photo, Dick Cheney can’t even summon the courage to look the emperor in the eye, let alone bow to him, and opts for checking out his package.