Obama further humiliates and disgraces the United States!
Devil's Advocate
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_emperor_bow/2009/11/15/286508.htm
l
( see photo! )
No American President Ever Bowed to a Foreign Leader � Until Now
( my note: not technically correct. Obama bowed to the Saudi King before
this! )
Sunday, November 15, 2009 11:14 PM
By: Daniel Ruddy Article Font Size
This past Saturday when President Obama bowed to the Japanese Emperor
Akihito and Empress Michiko he created a new presidential precedent.
No president of the United States in the more than 230 years since the
country was founded in 1776 had ever bowed to a member of royalty. That
was until Barack Obama�s presidency.
In April, President Obama bowed to the Saudi king during the G-20
meeting. At the time Obama�s deferential bow was somewhat obscured, and
the White House insisted that the president had simply leaned forward to
shake the king�s hand.
But the recent demonstration of royal deference by the president to the
Japanese emperor and empress suggests his earlier action was no
aberration.
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What should we make of this? Is it trivial to worry about what on its
face could easily be interpreted as nothing more than a polite gesture
by our president to respect the culture of a country?
America was founded on republican virtues -- small �r� that is. Like the
French Republic, our nation does not recognize royalty or social rank,
especially from officials of the republic.
The conduct of our president when he deals with foreign leaders is a
serious matter. After all, he represents the American people and our
Constitution.
Indeed, when President Obama bows before a foreign leader the whole
country bows with him.
It is difficult to grasp what President Obama�s motives are for bowing
to foreign royalty (it would be nice if a reporter asked his press
secretary Robert Gibbs why he does it).
But President Obama�s motives do not really matter when we consider his
behavior.
What matters is how the rest of the world will interpret his actions.
When it comes to bowing before foreign leaders, there is a fine line
between showing politeness and servility, between respect and weakness.
The United States leads the free world, and it goes without saying that
our president as Commander-in-Chief is duty bound to protect the nation,
and our allies by treaty. He should act in such a way that strengthens,
not weakens, his position.
If we as American citizens wonder about how our president should act
with foreign leaders when he meets with them in person, let us look to
the history of the United States for guidance.
First, there is our cherished Constitution. When the Founding Fathers
wrote it, they made abundantly clear their distaste of the hereditary
forms of government that then dominated Europe.
Article I, section 9 of the U.S. Constitution states: "No Title of
Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding
any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of
the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any
kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."
As the nation�s first constitutional leader, President George Washington
set the tone. When it was proposed that he be called �His Highness the
President of the United States of America and the Protector of Their
Liberties,� Washington scoffed at the idea and demanded he be called
simply, �Mr. President.�
No president better exemplify the republican virtues of the country than
Thomas Jefferson, who had a purely American disdain for the pretensions
of royal power which he believed were not legitimately derived from the
people.
As he stated so eloquently in the Declaration of Independence, power was
not derived from bloodlines or royal coronations. Instead he argued that
since �all men are created equal� a government should exist by �deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed.�
Jefferson�s breezy indifference to the English monarchy was on display
during his first days in the White House.
When the monarch�s new ambassador to the United States called for the
first time to present his credentials he was not required to bow in
front of the nation�s sovereign. In accordance with American values, he
was assumed to be an equal, not a subject.
And so all he had to do was walk up to the White House and knock on the
door (there were no guards or royal attendants).
Once he was beckoned inside, "�a tall, high-boned man came into the
room. He was dressed, or rather undressed, in an old brown coat, red
waistcoat, old corduroy small-clothes much soiled, woollen hose, and
slippers without heels. I thought him a servant,� said the visitor,
�when General Varnum surprised me by announcing that it was the
president."
According to the historian Henry Adams, the casual dress and easy-going
manners of the new president were more important than they might seem at
first glance.
�The seriousness of Jefferson's experiments in etiquette,� Adams
observed, �consisted in the belief that they were part of a political
system which involved a sudden change of policy toward two great powers.
[They] were but the social expression of an altered feeling which found
its political expression in acts marked by equal disregard of usage.�
The British ambassador and other diplomats to the United States were
offended by Jefferson�s refusal to follow the rules of the Old World,
but that did not matter to Jefferson or his countrymen, who re-elected
him with a resounding majority of popular support.
Jefferson understood that symbolism was important.
Another president who promoted this egalitarian ideal was Franklin
Roosevelt.
In 1939 he invited the King and Queen of England to visit the United
States to bolster Anglo-American unity in the face of the growing
fascist threat. Roosevelt never bowed to the King or Queen or for that
matter any foreign royalty.
On this special occasion, he simply demonstrated American hospitality.
As the British journalist Alistair Cooke detailed: �Roosevelt took them
[the Royal couple] off to Hyde Park [his Hudson River estate] and drove
his own hand-run automobile into the grounds and gave them a hot dog
lunch. Well, this was a shocker to the British, but it's the thing he
would do. You see, he was a natural aristocrat, Roosevelt was. He didn't
have to put on airs.�
Roosevelt was also an American through and through and secure in his
standing as a world leader.
There is a lesson here for President Obama, who appears intent on
upending more than two centuries of American protocol. When he as
president bows before a Saudi king or a Japanese emperor, he is sending
an implicit message to millions of people around the world that the
leader of the free world accepts the notion that some people are born to
a higher rank than others.
But when our President stands up straight and extends his hand in
friendship to all civilized nations, there is no danger, there is only
opportunity�opportunity to communicate the values and spirit that
Jefferson so eloquently conveyed to the rest of the world��that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness.�
Daniel Ruddy writes on politics and history. His upcoming book,
�Theodore Roosevelt�s History of the United States� (Harper Collins), is
due out in April 2010.
RichTravsky
>
> Even honest liberals must feel embarrassed by this!
>
> http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_emperor_bow/2009/11/15/286508.htm
> l
>
> ( see photo! )
>
> No American President Ever Bowed to a Foreign Leader � Until Now
>
> ( my note: not technically correct. Obama bowed to the Saudi King before
> this! )
>
> Sunday, November 15, 2009 11:14 PM
>
> By: Daniel Ruddy Article Font Size
>
> This past Saturday when President Obama bowed to the Japanese Emperor
> Akihito and Empress Michiko he created a new presidential precedent.
>
> No president of the United States in the more than 230 years since the
> country was founded in 1776 had ever bowed to a member of royalty. That
> was until Barack Obama�s presidency.
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2009/11/dwight-d-eisenhower-bowing-hour.html
RichTravsky
>
> Even honest liberals must feel embarrassed by this!
>
> http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_emperor_bow/2009/11/15/286508.htm
> l
>
> ( see photo! )
>
> No American President Ever Bowed to a Foreign Leader � Until Now
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lzgTXA_Iqpc/SeKFUACs8xI/AAAAAAAAAFg/Q628L9H-kwY/s1600-h/bow.jpg
squirltop
leg@sea
> RichTravsky wrote:
>> Devil's Advocate wrote:
>>> Even honest liberals must feel embarrassed by this!
>>>
>>> http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_emperor_bow/2009/11/15/286508.htm
>>> l
>>>
>>> ( see photo! )
>>>
>>> No American President Ever Bowed to a Foreign Leader � Until Now
>> http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lzgTXA_Iqpc/SeKFUACs8xI/AAAAAAAAAFg/Q628L9H-kwY/s1600-h/bow.jpg
>
> http://images.quickblogcast.com/5/3/1/7/1/125293-117135/Bush_King_Abdullah16may08.jpg
That doesn't show Bush bowing, you moron.
> http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n148/seenos/SaddamRumsfeld.jpg
That's not our "President" you moron.