Bow simply display of good manners, cut Obama some slack
Alana MousaviDin
In a clearly visible moment during a meet and greet session at the G-20 summit in London April 2, President Obama bowed as he greeted the Saudi King while shaking his hand.
A great deal of debate has flourished on the Internet about the happening, but for what reason? Is it really incomprehensible that a country’s leader was simply showing respect to another?
Heaven forbid the U.S. has any kind of leader who actually tries to honor another official. Perhaps it was a little awkward, but it only takes one person to lead a parade.
Bowing to others in a high-held position has long been customary in many countries around the world, regardless of gender.
So has kissing on the cheeks, or kneeling and bowing one’s head while kissing the hand of an official. Some people simply feel that to bow to another is a sign of surrender or is debasement.
The president did nothing wrong – it could have been an error. Whatever the case may be, it has been looked into far too much. Do people have nothing more important to do with their time than to criticize such trivial matters?
Please, focus on the important stuff, like global warming, ending the war, curing cancer – anything but whether it was appropriate for our president to bow while shaking hands when greeting another man.
OK, so he didn’t bow to the queen of England during his trip to Europe. There is no explaining why he chose to bow to only one person at the G-20 summit meeting.
Most likely the president either realized that he had overstepped the boundary line, or one of his agents let him know that his action was not necessary.
Daily Pundit blogger ‘WTQ’ went on an American rant about the president bowing down to an ‘oilbag S.O.B.’ and barbarian savage.
This is well within the writer’s First Amendment right to free speech, but it does verify that some people believe that bowing means a form of surrender.
‘ ‘As for me, I’m American, and Americans don’t bow to anybody,’ wrote the Daily Pundit blogger.
Well, that’s all fine and dandy if you choose to remain living in that perfect little closed off world you’ve made for yourself, but once you make the decision to come out into the real world, be prepared for a surprise.
Fortunately, not everyone is as closed-minded as the blogger above.
‘I believe that the bow was a sign that U.S. is willing to embrace foreign customs and traditions,’ said Fatima Maniar, a political science senior. ‘While the right (wing) has attacked President Obama for the bow, it’s a display of diplomacy. Many other global leaders show this to the Saudi King and other royal leaders such as the queen of England.’
No one can say for sure what the president was thinking when he greeted the Saudi King. Regardless, we need to remember that if any of us were president we would want our country to cut us a little slack when we do something that is less than perfect in public.
If we insult Obama for his method of greeting now, what’s next, impeachment for passing gas in the Oval office?
Alana MousaviDin is a communication senior and may be reached at [email protected].
Inappropriate bow suggests poor American image to the world
Andrew Taylor
When world leaders met at the G-20 summit in London on April 2, President Barack Obama got himself into quite a predicament. As the president was greeting the king of Saudi Arabia, he engaged in what appears to be a bow to King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.
When a CNN reporter questioned White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about the ‘bow’ to the Saudi King, Gibbs tried to explain.’
‘No, I think he bent over with both, to shake’hellip; with both hands to shake his hand, so I don’t’hellip;’ Gibbs said.
CNN reporter Dan Lothian then asked again, ‘Did he bow or didn’t he?’
Gibbs was quick with a response accompanied by a dismissal and shot to end the question.
‘No. But I think this meeting was like a week ago, right?’ Gibbs said.
‘That’s right, but this is something a lot of people are talking about today,’ Lothian said.
Gibbs ended the conversation of Lothian’s question when he said, ‘I can only imagine it is of great cause and concern for many people struggling with the economy.’
Gibbs might have unintentionally nailed it.’ In a time that our country needs to assert itself as the foremost superpower and world leader, a ‘bow’ or gesture that looks like a bow is damaging when coming from our president.
In a 1994 article by New York Times by columnist Douglas Jehl, the topic of a U.S. president bowing was discussed when former President Clinton was accused by some of bowing to Emperor Akihito of Japan.
‘But the ‘thou need not bow’ commandment from the State Department’s protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years. Administration officials scurried to insist that the eager-to-please president had not really done the unthinkable,’ Jehl said.
The upholding of protocol and conduct commandments should be something the president maintains consistently, but especially during times of global crisis. As the leader of a powerful nation, President Obama must remember his image represents the image of all Americans.
‘The bow was improper; what he should have done is reformulate U.S. Foreign Policy around protecting the Saudi oil fields and access to world markets like his predecessors,’ political science professor Tim Howard said.
Students around campus have various feelings about Obama’s actions.
‘Obama seems to be downplaying the greatness of the U.S., and the presidency thereof. His bow to another leader and his statements to the European community seem to imply that Obama views the approval of other foreign countries more so than his own,’ economics senior Nick Perez said.
Other students see the bow as a gesture of mutual respect and not a violation of protocol.
‘I think it was a respectful gesture rather than the president lowering himself. It shows that we are not an egotistical nation,’ economics senior Aftab Bana said.
In the numerous video footage of the bow it appears to be one sided, with only Obama bowing while also shaking the kings hand. Despite the poor explanation by White House officials, there is still a pressing issue of protocol violation and poor judgment on Obama’s behalf.
The issue should not be that we have become an egotistical nation, but the fact that we do play the largest role in the world as a country.
We are a nation of freedom and democracy, great power and leadership, in which we strive to work with other nations to better our world. The traits are displayed and in effect give our allies confidence when working with the U.S.
Obama started off with great popularity abroad, but most importantly, he needs to maintain it at home.
Andrew Taylor is an economics junior and may be reached at [email protected].
