Community | November 18, 2009 | 15 comments

Obama's critics should be bowing their heads

source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2009/nov/18/obama-japan-bow

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To most reasonable people, it was a well-intentioned show of respect to a head of state who greeted his guest on the steps of his home before ushering him inside for lunch.

But Barack Obama's greeting to Japan's emperor, Akihito, at the weekend has worked the American right into a lather over what they see as their president's unseemly deference to a symbol of hereditary power.

The outrage was initially confined to commentators such as William Kristol, who, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, wondered "why President Obama thought that was appropriate. Maybe he thought it would play well in Japan".

Former vice-president Dick Cheney has waded in. "There is no need for an American president to bow to anyone"

Sean Hannity at Fox News claimed the Japanese were "mortified" by the addition of a handshake to the traditional greeting.

They were nothing of the sort: the handshake, though not strictly necessary, has crept into bowing etiquette, particularly in international business and politics. What better way to illustrate the meeting of two cultures?

Far from embarrassment, there is consternation here that some Americans should be so incensed by their president's impeccable manners. If anyone was belittled it was Akihito, who stands eight inches shorter than the 6ft 1in Obama.

Etiquette experts in Japan have praised the president's efforts, while an Imperial Household Agency spokesman said the greeting looked "natural and appropriate".


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2009/nov/18/obama-japan-bow
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Politics,   Current Democrats,   3 more
  2. tags:
    Barack Obama,  Etiquette
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