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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Obama Bows to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia....or Did he?

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. - Politico

You be the judge, watch the video, It sure looks like a bow to me. I don't care one way or another if you want to bow, just don't say you didn't when clearly you did.

1 comment:

Ju said...

Obama, the President of the United States and leader of the free world, bows to a Saudi King who represents a despotic regime noted for its’ human rights violations, a birthplace of terrorists, a symbol of everything that is an antithesis to our system of government, and it’s no big deal?

I consider myself fortunate to have been born in a republic. I appreciate that as a citizen of a republic, I need not bow to any man or woman. We are all created equal, and blood lines do not make one person superior. This gesture by Obama should rankle every citizen for when Obama bowed as President of the United States, we all bowed.

He did bow, see the video from the latest angle:

http://tinyurl.com/obamabowedtowow