The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets.
"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Washington Times called the alleged bow a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate" and said it violated centuries of American tradition of not deferring to royalty. The Weekly Standard, meanwhile, noted that American protocol apparently rules out bowing, or at least it reportedly did on the occasion of a Clinton "near-bow" to the emperor of Japan.
Interestingly, a columnist in the Saudi-backed Arabic paper Asharq Alawsat also took the gesture as a bow and appreciated the move.
"Obama wished to demonstrate his respect and appreciation of the personality of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has made one of the most important calls in the modern era, namely the call for inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars," wrote the columnist, Muhammah Diyab.
Oddly enough, he didn't have to bend at the waist to greet the Queen of England, who, at 5'4", is considerably shorter than the Saudi king. Also, Obama's left hand is clearly visible near his own legs while he's shaking hands...quite a trick for an average, two-handed human, but apparently not a prohibiting factor for His Greatness.
Judge for yourself...the, um, handshake is about 54 seconds in.
When your body/brain/mouth automatically does something that you would not allow to happen if you were thinking about who was watching/listening, we common people have come to call it a Freudian Slip. We have also come to believe that the action is a look inside your heart/soul/mind, a peek at how you really feel about certain things.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone doubt that Prince Obama has spent a lifetime idolizing the famous Muslims of the world and would instinctively show submission to any one of them he met? (This one is a King, already! Wow! Kiss his ring! Maybe he was???)
I'll bet he would have done a double back flip if he had been able to meet Lenin.
If that wasn't a bow, I'll kiss your hind end in Macy's window and give you a half hour to draw a crowd. That couldn't have been more obvious. And, you're right, the left hand was brought up after the bow was over and bimboma had straightned up. Does the white house staff really think they can just lie and get away with it???
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