Good job Mr. President, good job...

[EvillE423]

Why does he go around bowing to everyone? Is he trying to make us look weak or something?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co....html

[audtatious]

He's the first in 43 Presidents, might be a new trend he's starting?

[EvillE423]

He's the first in 43 Presidents, might be a new trend he's starting?

If he keeps on his current trend, we will be blown up, broke, and socialists before it's over with.

[AZhitman]

Actually, it's quite common for Democrats to bend over in the presence of a stranger.

[nissangirl74]

[EvillE423]

[RobPaulson]

people wanted a citizen / birth certificate check on this guy... i think there shoulda been a gender check. what a b****.

(its a joke, plz no feminists LOL)

[srellim234]

I have mixed feelings on this. I understand where Americans in America would feel that it's a sign of weakness, but it plays back to the "Ugly American" image Americans have created overseas for at least the last few generations.

Culturally I think it's one of those "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" issues. Hirohito is a figurehead emperor, the same as the royal family is in Great Britain. I really don't have a problem with bowing to them as a sign of respect when on their soil.

There are limits. I would expect Hirohito to follow custom should he come here for a visit and conform to our standard, offering a handshake and not expecting our President to bow.

Attempting to rectify the perception that we are not going to respect other cultures and ram ours down their throats is a welcome sign in my opinion. Did Obama go too far? I don't know. Yes for many, no for others.

It's a whole lot better than propping up a military dictator financially and by condoning all the cr*p that went on in Pakistan.

[szh]

It's a whole lot better than propping up a military dictator financially and by condoning all the cr*p that went on in Pakistan.

Uh ... maybe!

Being originally from that country, and knowing the news and political landscape over there, I would MUCH rather have had Musharraf running the country than the politicians who were eligible ... then or now!

At least, Musharraf was personally quite honest - you simply can't say that about the current President over there. He has been known for decades (ever since his wife Benazir Bhutto was PM years ago) as "Mister Ten Percent" ... think about why!

Z

[NightRiderQ45]

I blame this on the Faux News media clowns. If those clowns would spend the time they give towards making up lies (the hannity health care rally lie http://vodpod.com/watch/250037...otage really...) to reporting real news, then maybe they would be worthy. If it wasn't for Family Guy and NFL Sunday's, I wouldn't look at Fox period.

Obama showed respect- something that escaped arrogant smirking chimp, G.W. "we are going to get those terrorlst killers; now watch this drive" Bush, and Darth "I'll shoot your face off" Cheney. Nixon bowed, Eisenhower bowed, and Bush 43 could plant a big wet kiss on the Saudi Prince and walk hand-in-hand with him across the Crawford ranch, but Obama shouldn't bow in China, where bowing is the customary greeting. If bowing makes us look weak, then we have been weak for a long time. Give me a break...

Nixon bowing to Japanese Emperor Hirohito

Eisenhower bowing to the person I thought he hated... Frenchman Charles De Gaulle

Speaking of looking weak...Bush holding hands...guess they were speaking about all the money they both made off oil from the US. Also it was Saudi's money that bailed out Harken Energy when George W. Bush was on its board of directors. They have a lot to hold hands about...

Nixon bowing to Mao Zedong @ 1:24 and GWB spotting @ 1:32 http://althouse.blogspot.com/2....html

[AZhitman]

So, when he meets with Ahmedinijad or the Taliban (on his U.S. Apologist Tour), and Michelle speaks without being spoken to, we'll be expecting him to deliver a good strong backhand.

Anything less would be, after all, disrespectful.

In all seriousness, if our POTUS is gonna be engaging in local customs, I expect him to wave his shoe at some folks over in the Middle East... maybe even whip a wingtip at some anti-American protesters.

[smockers83]

^ Or burn flags and effigies of their leaders.

[WDRacing]

Free enterprise in our Nation is on fire and burning, and we're worried about who bowed to who. How about who gives a F@#$.

If people would quit making a big deal out of every damn thing the media throws up we'd all be better off. I'd bow, who cares. You can't please everyone and I'm pretty sure BO knows we need China's support alot more then they need us...for anything. So a little bow to the country that owns most of our national debt is fine by me.

[Sushibandito]

Right on NightRider, no one seems to comment on the "hand-holding" or at least they never mentioned it on Faux News, the ONLY trusted source for what not to believe these days.

From the article:"Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference to a superior." Even though Obama is Prez, Akihito is considered the superior because he is older. 'Nuf Said. This is the standard rule in Etiquette 101

But on the subject of bowing, when I worked at Macy's, and an older customer was clearly an FOB I would dip just a bit after I was done ringing them up, 100% of the time I would get a huge smile and a little bow back. Clearly for someone fresh into our country, they appreciate that we try a little bit to understand what it is like where they live and maybe it will help so they don't feel so out of place.

Its not weak, or a sign of being a tard, it is simply how they do it over there. Obama is showing "CULTURE", something that all the D-bags in this country who claim to be patriots and Americans to the core, or join the facking Minutemen militia should work on acquiring. Hopefully no one has forgotten that at our core, we are all Europeans that moved here a few hundred years ago.

There is nothing admirable about xenophobia, something that any of us who have dated Asian girls with recently immigrated parents (I had a Korean girlfriend for 4 years) are probably well aware of.

I would much rather be able to travel and not get b****ed out for our former president (which happened a ton during the 00-08" years when I went to Canada). I would bet Canadian people, or Brits, or the French that saw that same news article would be impressed
Modified by trigjones at 12:18 PM 11/19/2009

[S13_love]

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Now there's a man who knew how to show other countries some respect!

[NightRiderQ45]

trigjones and wdracing...WELL SAID! Once again FAUX NEWS are accused of LYING LIKE ALWAYS about the Palin rallies. They claim it was a production error...Please. Why are they trying to boost her ratings? She is talking badly about the McCain campaign now. And if anyone would consider her for 2012, they are crazy! If you give up and leave your position in small Alaska because of "media bashing family", what the heck makes you think you are ready for the highest position of all? Trust me, the "family bashing" will NOT stop but get worse.

[audtatious]

Who GD cares? At least Faux News admits when they screw up. Something the "proper" news outfits like MSNBC and NYTimes don't do or they bury it so deep you never see it.

What is the deal about Palin? Why are the Dems so anti-Palin and wanting to help the GOP win an election by steering them away from her? Are they just stupid or pissing in their pants that someone will come in and knock skulls to make the Gov fiscally conservative? The last thing the Dems want is someone coming in and working to end the corruption and blatant wasteful spending that the Gov leaders all make big bux on today. That would simply be horrible to them and their lobbyist buddies.

[srellim234]

aud- there are no news organizations with that integrity any more. I'm still waiting for your beloved FoxNews to call out it's own Sean Hannity for lying about subjecting himself to waterboarding to prove it is not torture and to raise money for military veterans. The man flat out lied about it to make himself appear like a great guy and patriot and then reneged when he was called on it.

His great special he ran on the California farmers failed to note that most of the water shortage is drought related and he was only reporting the part of the equation that fit Fox's anti-government reporting standards.

Fox also never retracted the "crack" investigation and reporting by their own morning anchor regarding Cash for Clunkers when she incorrectly reported that only two dealers had been paid in Minnesota early in the program as opposed to 2% of the dealers that had been paid.

None of the networks (Fox, MSNBC, etc, etc., etc.) have any qualms about lying to twist things their direction and actually very seldom retract their lies.

None of them on either side have any journalistic ethics and integrity any more.

[audtatious]

I agree, journalism sux. Realize one thing, there is a difference in reporting the news vs. what Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly do. They are political commentators.

[srellim234]

Gretchen Carlson is presented as a news anchor and represented herself as a journalist/ news reporter when she pulled this boner:

http://minnesotaindependent.co...s-two

Fox doesn't retract stuff, either, and Fox apparently encourages their "news" people to infuse personal opinion and/or FoxNews editorial comment throughout the "news" broadcasts without properly indicating so.

[WDRacing]

Honesty and Integrity will always take a backseat to profit. The media is a for profit organization, each branch tailoring and targeting a specific demographic.

So I try to make my own decisions based on available facts. This is a pretty simple one if you ask me. Place yourself in Obama's shoes, you're either the type of person that shows respect or you aren't. I suppose you could be the third party that weighs everything everyone else wants or thinks you should do and then do whatever gives you the highest approval rating. But those people are the problem with this Nation, not the solution. So it's really just A or B, bow or don't bow. If I get to meet one of the most powerful people on the planet, even if I have mutant mind reading power and I can fly faster then light, I'm bowing.

WD

[Sushibandito]

Just for the record, I don't really trust any media, regardless of whether it seems liberal or conservative. I just don't like Fox because they seem so angry about everything, and blow it out of proportion like 5-year olds that caught someone making a mistake, and are all exciting because they are the first ones that get to tell teacher.

That said, I also detest Wolf Blitzer because he acts like a VJ off MTV, and can't just report the news like a normal person, without the sweeping cameras and overdone voice-work. Not to mention 90% of what is mentioned on news networks doesn't apply to me. I don't think I am going to die of swine flu, and as far as the lame advertisements are concerned, my BM's are fine, and I don't have ED, but thanks for checking.

At my last job, we listened to a lot of NPR, which I liked, not for the news portions, but for the human interest pieces. If I am going to spend my time listen to people talk, it needs to be a lot more interesting than just hearing what the Senate argued over the entire day. Both these stories I heard about on NPR.

This is a pretty interesting story about the Maasai tribe and 9/11http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06....html

And this one about a Cambodian beauty pageant, but the participants have all lost limbs due to land mines.http://abcnews.go.com/Internat...36722

[audtatious]

Gretchen Carlson is presented as a news anchor and represented herself as a journalist/ news reporter when she pulled this boner:

http://minnesotaindependent.co...s-two

Fox doesn't retract stuff, either, and Fox apparently encourages their "news" people to infuse personal opinion and/or FoxNews editorial comment throughout the "news" broadcasts without properly indicating so.

They all suck. You have CNN/ABC/NBC/CBS/MSNBC all showing one side of the coin and Fox showing the other. You almost have to watch Fox and one of the others, then look in between their two viewpoints to make a stab at the truth.