House of Eratosthenes

Count me among the exasperated at Obama’s willingness to bow before royalty – it’s funny actually, that such an avowed progressive (the group that believes in dissolving the connections of power) is so willing to reify power by being so deferential to hereditary royalty.

Stop The ACLU points to an impressive assortment of other reactions.

How are Obama’s defenders to spin it? Like this:

A senior administration official said President Barack Obama was simply observing protocol when he bowed to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arriving at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday.

“I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base,” the official said. “He observes protocol. But I don’t think anybody who was in Japan – who saw his speech and the reaction to it, certainly those who witnesses his bilateral meetings there – would say anything other than that he enhanced both the position and the status of the U.S., relative to Japan. It was a good, positive visit at an important time, because there’s a lot going on in Japan.”

But this explanation does not square up against the impressive portfolios of other heads-of-state greeting the same Emperor. Like for example at Hot Air Pundit. And Astute Bloggers. And Weasel Zippers. And Donklephant.

There is another way to backlash against the Obama critics, and this one is unsettling. Not for its substance which is straight out of the Alinsky playbook. But rather for its knee-jerk-ish-ness…its mindlessness…its auto-pilot-ness…

The Moderate Voice:

It never ceases to amaze me how much more importance contemporary conservatives place on the form of democracy rather than the substance. Bowing to the leader of a country in which bowing is a respectful greeting when meeting any new person is a betrayal of democracy. Show trials in which convictions are gained using torture, hearsay testimony, and suppression of evidence are defenses of democracy.

The pattern continues. Only a dolt would dare to question the perfection of Holy Man Obama.

CBS News.

The usual crowd of armchair patriots is having a collective fit over President Obama’s decision to greet Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko with a bow.

A bow? I kid thee not.

You can just hear the valley-girl speak. Omigaw!

Rockey the Liberal Rottweiler responds to Alan Colmes’ blog post about it:

The problem here is that President Obama understands something that the rightwing extremists just can’t comprehend: that people’s opinion of you begins with whether or not you are polite.

And, as we all are well-aware, the word “polite” is not in the radical rightwing republikkkan lexicon.

Yeah, nothing endears me to people quite so quickly as the oh-so-polite behavior of calling me a Klansman. Well done Rocky.

More Omigaw stuff at Washington Monthly:

As part of his Asian trip, President Obama met today with Japanese Emperor Akihito. In keeping with Japanese custom and diplomatic protocol, the president bowed.

If you’re thinking this was an inconsequential moment, especially as compared to the significance of the trip itself, you’re underestimating the right’s propensity to embrace nonsense.

As Sister Toldjah points out, though, this is far from nonsense.

It never fails that any criticism of President Obama from conservatives is met with the usual “they’re overblowing it/they’re being stupid” cry from some on the left, and this weekend is no different. In response to the legitimate outcry over the President bowing at a clear 90 degree angle to Japanese Emperor Akihito, liberals at blogs like “The Moderate Voice” (does that place even have any moderates posting there anymore?), Alan Colmes’ blog, and others are blasting conservatives for getting upset at our President allegedly “observing a cultural custom.”

Think again. Both Ed Morrissey and Allahpundit dug up a 1994 New York Times piece back when the first Obama bow controversy emerged, and Ed reposted the link to the article again today. In it, the liberal NYT talks about a tradition among American Presidents that does not involve bowing:

It wasn’t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent President, and the Emperor of Japan.

Canadians still bow to England’s Queen; so do Australians. Americans shake hands. If not to stand eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were 1776 and all that about?

Gerard’s headline raises an entirely different train of thought in a single elegant statement: “If a US President Had Just Done This in January 1942 It Would Have Saved Everyone a Lot of Trouble.” The message won’t sink in where it’s needed. The idea that national pride is a bad thing — for certain countries — is a religion all by itself.

From reading both sides of things, one thing becomes abundantly clear: To whatever extent, and to whatever audience, the bow from President to Emperor is an appropriate show of respect — to be frowned-upon only by nonsensically puritanical chuckle-heads — it began to be so legitimate only in the instant President Obama did it.

And this is what is rather alarming about it. The protocol isn’t quite so much that such an expression is okay; it’s more that things begin to be okay when He Who Walks On Water does them.

What if our 44th President were to come down with a case of severe senile dementia? It seems we’re one brain-itch away from a truly earth-shattering “don’t know whether to laugh or cry” episode. If President Obama were to be afflicted with The Madness of King George, whatever remains of our code of social taboo would be warm putty in the hands of a lunatic. In the space of minutes it would become quite alright…as in, don’t you dare criticize or else you show your own neanderthal-ness…to eviscerate adorable puppies on the White House lawn in broad daylight…to strip down bare naked and rub peanut butter all over your nipples and buttocks…to diddle nine-year-old girl scouts…to defecate into the punch bowl…to…well, lengthening this list any further is not only vulgar, but pointless. The point to be made is: Where is the line drawn? President Sottero is Cool By Definition. Whatever He does, for whatever reason, must be not only allowable — but chic.

And on that train of thought I know exactly where I saw this form of psychosis before. Finally figured it out, I did. I saw it fourteen years ago give-or-take, in a zany little family comedy by Adam Sandler called Billy Madison. A young boy has an accident — “young” as in, young, but not so young that this is something that could be broadly accepted — and Adam Sandler drenches his own crotch with water to make it suddenly-cool to piss your pants.

This is what the hardcore left is doing with President Basically-God. This is precisely it. He Who Argues With Dictionaries pisses his pants at 12:15, and by 12:20 you’re a dumbass rube if your own crotch is still dry. “Everybody Pees Their Pants”. They’ll use their amazing superpower to re-write and re-wire our circuitry that declares right-and-wrong…to make it right. Barry did it, so it must be okay.

It seems pretty harmless when we’re talking about bowing. Especially in Japan. But this isn’t harmless, it’s dangerous. Like I said: It’s not the decision made, it’s how it’s made; the knee-jerk-ish-ness. That is the real story. That is what needs inspecting. The hardcore thirty-eight percent or whatever it is, who’d follow President Wonderful anywhere. They really, really would, and we’ve arrived at the point where the fanatical worship is no longer American, or even remotely compatible with American ideals.

President Obama did something wrong here. He’s capable of screwing up — the potential has always existed — and He did screw up. Just admit it. If you can’t admit it, you have a problem. Get help now.

In Japan the degree of the bow is in exact proportion to the relative status of the individual. Even the Japanese are inclined to take classes in the intracacies of bowing so that they might not make fools of themselves.
The Japanese Premier must have been horrified. I suspect the entire nation is seeing this man as a fool. And let us be blunt. Asians do not think well of blacks.
- xlibrl | 11/15/2009 @ 23:47
The liberal reaction. Gimme a break. They have two reactions to things like this, but they only talk about one – the one where they are reacting to the conservative reaction. The other one goes undiscussed, especially by them, and it’s the one where they saw the bow and thought “oh, boy, the conservatives are going to be all over this one.” The reason they don’t discuss it is because to have that reaction means that they saw the very same flaws and problems with it that the rest of us did. You cannot anticipate criticism without recognizing its legitimacy, so they fall back on the standard issue liberal response: Any problem with me can be explained by a flaw in you.

A bit convoluted, probably. So be it.
- Andy | 11/16/2009 @ 11:07

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Obama BowsSunday, November 15th, 2009

Obama Bows
Sunday, November 15th, 2009