The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Obama Must Stop Bowing!

    You've no doubt seen the video in which Obama bowed meekly before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia:

    In and of itself, this servile gesture symbolizes the pathetic dependence of United States on the towel-headed terrorist who undermines our sovereignty by making us buy his oil. But this was not Obama's first offense. He also bowed before the Queen of England, the symbolic leader of the nation that once taxed our tea, press-ganged our soldiers, and quartered, yes quartered, its bayonet-wielding troops in our very bedrooms. Watch and weep for the glory of the nation:

    What's next, serving tea to the Chinese? Cleaning the Indians' latrines? Lapdances for the Iranians? (Imagine how it would bolster Ahmenijhad's international credibility.) At this rate, our entire nation will soon be little more than a decrepit happy-ending massage joint on the outskirts of Winnipeg.

    Alas, it was not as if we had no warning. Remember the way Obama turned down greasy hunks of meat during the primary? His pathetic bowling score? We should have known better. We should have seen Mr. Obama for the genuflecting pansy that he is and instead elected the Crown Royale quaffer or the grizzly bear DNA shouter or the other old guy who threw the big rock.

    Too late for that now. But there is a solution. President Obama must be sent to Mancamp to learn the skills that made our nation the fearsome imperialists that we once were. He must learn to chug grease, bowl strikes or at least spares, and shoot his friends in the face without flinching. After a few weeks at Mancamp, our willowy, namby-pampy leader will be transformed into a large, bellowing ass-kicker who will make the world tremble with his rage. And the next time he confronts presumptuous foreign leaders, President Obama won't cringe in submission; he will project the power of the greatest nation in the world by vomiting in their laps.

    This is they way real men consort with Saudi royalty (thanks to NCSteve at TPM for the reminder):

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    Comments

    I don't read anything into the bowing, which is just a traditional courtesy. If it violates U.S. protocol, learn from it and move on.

    The real scandal is the alleged denial by a White House aide, speaking "on condition of anonymity" to Politico's Ben Smith. Lying in the face of YouTube evidence is 100 times the gaffe that a simple bow might be.

    In passing, if you are going to offer answers to reporters' questions, have the balls to put your name behind them. I go ballistic when I read quotes from "a spokesman who requested anonymity on grounds that he/she is not authorized to comment on the subject." If you lack the authority to speak, admit as much and shut the fuck up.


    This could be helped if reporters weren't so willing to write this kind of crap.  As long as that's the game, I fully expect pols to play it.


    Very interesting blog! It seems like Obama and Michelle Obama need to really look at etiquette in different countries. I am a student blogger that operates a news-only blog at http://www.electiongazette.com.

     

    Thanks, Tucker

    Please check out my blog!


    I'm not too familiar with appropriate protocols here but I did think bowing to royalty was kind of a no-no for American politicians. The fact that the WH is now saying Obama didn't bow is a farce, and reminds me of the deny-at-all-costs tactic that the previous administration engaged in so frequently.

    I expect more from this administration. If Obama bowed and shouldn't have, then own up to it. If he bowed and feels it is an appropriate gesture ('When in Rome') then explain it as such. But to deny that the president bowed is a joke.

    Normally i would say this whole discussion is a joke (as genghis finds it) but in this case symbolism matters. People are already nervous Obama is ceding too much power to the world's other leaders, so a gaffe like this does have an impact (either positive and negative, of course, depending on your viewpoint on whether a little American humility is a welcome notion or not).

    Still, I'd much rather have a President who offers a Middle East king a small token of respect in a brief greeting, than an administration which continually crafts oil industry-friendly policies to benefit the autocractic regimes of the region. (And didn't Michael Moore in Farenheit 911 show footage of Bush Jr. basically making out and holding hands with a Saud prince?)


    I, for one, welcome our new genuflecting pansy overlords!


    Did you see the part where Obama grabbed King Abdullah's nuts?  Big O needs to curb some of that, me thinks.


    Can you explain how to use the "susbcribe" feature to allow me to follow when you post something? I see it, but don't have a clue how to make that happen. Do most blogs around the internet have the same feature? Is this some generic situation? Many thanks.


    Sure.  Dagblog features RSS feeds, which is pretty standard for most sites at this point in the game.  If you click on the 'subscribe' link in the upper right (or right here), you'll be taken to a page with a list of options.  You can subscribe to the whole site or a number of more specific subscription options.  Let's say you want to follow Orlando.  Just click on her name under 'Bloggers' and you'll be taken to another page that will allow you to pick a feed based on what news reader you use.

    If you don't have a news reader or feel a little lost at this point, don't worry.  As long as you're running the latest version of Firefox, Opera, Safari or Internet Explorer, you can click on the link that says 'View Feed XML' inside the box.  At this point, your browser will take over and allow you to add the subscription feed.  The default option for this is usually a 'live bookmark' that shows up in your toolbar.  Anytime you click on this new bookmark, you'll see a list of the latest posts in whatever category you selected.

    I hope this helps.  Feel free to ask for additional help if you need it.


    You can also subscribe by email. When you click the subscribe link that DF mentioned, you can scroll down and enter your email address for a daily digest of dag stories. Thanks for following us.


    Thanks to both of you. The math question here to post a comment is much better than what I've seen at other places -that figure out the letter deal.