Obama goofs, bows to a king, wow, & I thought we won our revolution?

Bowing

Submitted by Pookie49 on Thu, 04/09/2009 - 14:21.

Usually we do not bow to another sovereign. In the olympic games of 1912 (I might be wrong on the exact year?), Jim Thorpe, while holding the American flag during opening ceremonies refused to lower it to the sovereign of the host country and stated "this flag dips to no earthly king"). It has just been kind of the norm since the American revolution, we do not bow to kings and queens because America was formed in revolution of a monarchy. No Americans of any station are required to bow to royalty. It is one of the pillars of American exceptionalism that our country rejected traditional caste divisions.

And, Judith Martin wrote in her Miss Manners column in 2001 that bowing "is not an ordinary bit of foreign etiquette one might adopt out of courtesy when traveling. ... Americans do not properly bow to any royalty. We show respect for other countries' leaders the same way we do to our own."

bow

Submitted by edluv on Thu, 04/09/2009 - 12:58.

wait, why is it a problem? why is it a problem that our president showed respect to another leader?

i'd guess you didn't serve in the air force so our leaders could parade around like arrogant pricks, either.

Bush was a buffoon, but everybody thought Obama was....

Submitted by orcaoid on Thu, 04/09/2009 - 12:28.

Bush was a buffoon (no question there), but everybody thought Obama was more focused, a thinker (for his gaffes a new word is used, Obamateurism)

has any sitting president ever kissed the pope's ring? thats just as bad in my opinion as bowing to a Saudi king or a Japanese emperor

I resent that Obama bowed to a king, any king. I didn't serve in the US Air Force to have our leaders kow-tow to kings, queens, or any petty despot
but I guess now that every paper follows royalty like puppy dogs waiting to be petted, what should anyone expect?
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welcome to the future