Top comments about Obama bowing before the Emperor
November 16th, 2009 by James
The LA Times went through the 1000+ comments left on its blog post about Obama bowing before Emperor Akihito to pick its favorite ten one-liners:
We mostly enjoyed what readers had to say about the president’s greeting — a mixture of outrage and patriotism, snarky one-liners and more serious diatribes.
Here are the top 10 best comments so far (leave your own below):
- Mitch wrote: Obama to Emperor of Japan: “May I shine your shoes, Sir?”
- Plain Jane wrote: Obama WASN’T bowing – He SAW a Japanese Yen on the floor and went to pick it up because it might be Worth More Than Our Dollar!
- Veteran wrote: Was that before or after he appologized for World War 2?
- bmcc wrote: Palin would have winked at him. You betcha!
- Maripo wrote: I’m surprised he didn’t curtsy.
- MP wrote: Whatever happened to the good old days when we could count on a Republican in the White House to puke on foreign dignitaries?
- marty1234 wrote: I wish are first black president had been a rapper at least he’d have some attitude…
- Wax on wax off wrote: Look eye! Always look eye! -Mr. Miyagi
- helen roach wrote: I wonder why they didn’t run the dust mop over the floor. It would have looked much nicer in the picture.
- Xavier wrote: See, Obama is not a Muslim. He’s a shintoist.
What do you think of Obama's bow?
[hat tip to HamachiMan]
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Can there be anything less important? Visitors to Japan screw up the bow thing all the time. Imagine the pressure when meeting a descendant of the sun goddess.
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The President of the United States is polite, but does not bow this way to foreign royalty. He’s not a tourist.
And what’s with the Sarah Palin option? I don’t see how she figures into this question at all. It is a nice window into Japan Probe’s inability to consider diplomatic protocol seriously.
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Plain Jane wins, even though her Shift Key Tried to scuttle Her entry.
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Maybe Her Use Of Caps Was Meant To Place Emphasis On Certain Words.
I can’t believe some of the comments on the LA Times site. You would think people would be a little more understanding of the customs of different cultures. King, Queen or President, everyone could do with learning a little humility. Bowing to express acknowledgement of another culture’s customs certainly doesn’t make anyone any less of a person – or President – and it most certainly doesn’t bring ‘disgrace to America.’ Ridiculous xenophobia.
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I’m all for respecting other culture’s customs. The problem is that he screwed up the custom. A visiting head of state should not be bowing that deeply, especially not when also shaking hands. Matching the Emperor’s very shallow bow with the hand shake would have been appropriate. If you watch the video, what he did with the Empress was appropriate and what he should have done with the Emperor as well. Whoever was giving Obama cultural lessons screwed up big time. If they had no one giving him cultural lessons then that was the screw up. It’s not a big deal, but it was a mistake. It makes him look overly deferential to many Americans and makes him look like a bumbling foreigner in Japanese eyes.
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I don’t think he looked like a bumbling foreigner to most Japanese. He looked like a polite and generous person paying respect to an elderly person that invited him to have lunch.
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Thank you fg. I can’t believe this isn’t blatantly obvious.
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I don’t happen to think it was a big deal and I think people are making too much of it. That said, I understand what they’re saying. You don’t bow that low unless you’re acknowledging someone’s superiority. It has nothing to do with America being better than anyone else – I wouldn’t expect any head of state to show that kind of “deference” to another.
And yeah, the Sarah Palin option just serves to highlight a political bias. =P
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Yay! My native country shows how isolated it is once again. Note to fellow Americans: the rest of the world may have McDonalds and Starbucks, but it is NOT like America. Go figure!
Recalling my world history and cultures education, I can see why these ridiculous opinions fill the void where real information should be. It’s still not an excuse for ignorance.
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McDonalds and Starbucks outside of America is very delicous. Thought the same thing would be in America but I was VERY wrong.
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lol – well, I’ve heard it said that buying a coffee in Starbucks is like paying for sex – you know you’ll get it but it’s gonna be rough.
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It’s not a big deal, but he shouldn’t have done it.
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Surprisingly, the United States was childish and nonsensical country.
the United States’s mentally unbalanced.
maybe for the long recession.
Mr.Obama is so polite.
he gave japanese people a good impression.
thankyou
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Xavier wins… that was the only comment that was funny.
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Haha, I second that.
I think it would be very funny if Obama had a small secret Japanese shrine in White House.
If he had put his hands together in front of him, which some Westerners might do when they bow to Japanese and that is a cultural misunderstanding, no American would have reacted like that.
What Obama did was also a little cultural misunderstanding
though I do dig the shoe shine comment too, hehe.
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Obama is not bowing to Akihito, he is just asking to the emperor to check if there is a gum in his head.
Obama: Yo bro, do you see a gum in my head?
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President Obama greets Emperor Akihito, when praised for his honorific bow the President replied, “Actually I just threw out my back, from carrying the United States on my Shoulders.”
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This is just the way the guy is. He has to have and do a lot of Chicagoland political butt kissing, so he is quite used to bending over for his masters.
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At first it seems a little strange that he bowed so deeply, but showing extra respect like that is only a good thing. Other foreigners could learn a thing or two if such a powerful world leader is willing to show humility in such a way.
I can only applaud Obama for having the decency to show such reverence for Japan’s emperor. And if any Americans are embarrassed that he bowed so deeply, then they could definitely do with a lesson in manners. Grandma, get the wooden spoon!
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The one aspect I am curious about is that he was probably briefed on what to do by his own people, so maybe they had their reasons?
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