Flashback: NYT scolded Clinton for almost bowing to royalty
posted at 4:41 pm on April 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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So far, the media has remained entirely silent on Barack Obama’s deep-waist bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. They used to defend American protocol a lot more closely, as The Anchoress discovered in doing research on the subject. The New York Times sharply criticized Bill Clinton for a mere inclination of his shoulders towards Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1994:
It wasn’t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent President, and the Emperor of Japan.
Canadians still bow to England’s Queen; so do Australians. Americans shake hands. If not to stand eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were 1776 and all that about? …
Guests invited to a white-tie state dinner at the White House (a Clinton Administration first) were instructed to address the Emperor as “Your Majesty,” not “Your Highness” or, worse, “King.” And in what one Administration aide called “some emperor thing,” an Army general was cautioned that he should not address the Emperor Akihito at all as he escorted him to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
But the “thou need not bow” commandment from the State Department’s protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years. Administration officials scurried to insist that the eager-to-please President had not really done the unthinkable.
The media took Clinton to task for even suggesting the unthinkable. Now they remain silent on Obama’s leap to the unthinkable:
When will the New York Times cover this, even to the extent they covered Clinton’s inclined shoulders? Or is the unthinkable in 1994 turned into the unmentionable in 2009, thanks to a national media that has completely sold out to Barack Obama?
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Is it okay for the President to kiss and hold hands with a Saudi King?
getalife on April 4, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Let me just say that I have been fascinated with Nostradamus since I saw “The Man Who Saw Tomorrow” as a kid. I think there is something in the Aztec calendar, Astronomy, etc. too.
BUT… I believe these are all essentially dead-ends (or more precisely, wrong turns).
So my point is that making declarations based on Nostradamus and the Zodiac, etc. is a dubious practice… but I’m fascinated nonetheless.
mankai on April 4, 2009 at 6:18 PM
No worries. I’m not the owner of this parlor. Plus s/he generates lots of traffic, good for his/her nemesis, Capitalism.
Entelechy on April 4, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Well, the talk on the left blogs are discussing this bombshell:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/transcript1.html
getalife on April 4, 2009 at 5:54 PM
PBS isn’t a channel I want. It’s tax payer funded, yet panders mostly left.
They turned down, showing a documentary on Islam in America, because *GASP* one of the producers on the team was *GASP* a Republican.
Democrats, and Republicans worked on this documentary together, out of concern over the issue, yet PBS refused to air it, on the pettiest of reasons.
PBS is a hack!
capejasmine on April 4, 2009 at 6:20 PM
Why can’t you have the intelligent honesty to say that both are really dumb, with the bowing to that potentate being the worse of the two? If you can’t go read the history of the last 200 years.
Entelechy on April 4, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Guess what video clip will be getting plenty of play when Obama is running for a second term?
Maybe after oil is up over a $100 per barrel.
EPIC FAIL!
Isn’t this a*s so smart with his ivy league degree?
I’m just so impressed.
Might as well stay down Barry-O and let them cut your head off while you’re at it.
Sapwolf on April 4, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Oh, sorry me…
*laughing like a Japanese school girl*
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Is it ok for a president to get blow jobs from a girl young enough to be his daughter? To watch her masturbate with a cigar and then smoke it? And then lie about it and end up getting impeached?
And bow to a foreign leader, too?
Wethal on April 4, 2009 at 6:22 PM
I see Obama could lick any part of the King’s body – as long as he isn’t representing the US…
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:23 PM
see = say
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:23 PM
You really don’t know anything about their culture, do you?
Jim Treacher on April 4, 2009 at 6:23 PM
It’s definitely not a sign of submission, if that’s what you’re asking.
Obama submitted himself to the Saudi king. Everyone else got a handshake. What do you think that means, getalife?
capitalist piglet on April 4, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Entelechy on April 4, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Just trying to understand the protocol.
I think both want to keep the King happy because of his oil and capability to buy our debt.
getalife on April 4, 2009 at 6:24 PM
She was just hoping that Obama would do something else with his hand…
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:24 PM
tneloms and getalife, see this in context. Do you see any others doing the dirty deed?
getalife, kissing is described clearly and so is bowing. Read on it. You might learn quite a bit, on topic alone. It’s actually a very significant topic.
Entelechy on April 4, 2009 at 6:25 PM
He didn’t fellate the Chinese president…
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Why did Obama only submit himself to this man? Is there nothing he wanted from anyone else at the summit?
He may as well have rolled over on his back and urinated.
capitalist piglet on April 4, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Under this rationali he should also have bowed to the Chinese leader. Bowing is part of their culture, too. And China holds more debt.
Wethal on April 4, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Go easy on getalife, she is a simple creature. After all how else to explain the drooling, simpering, moaning sounds that she makes when she things of Obama.
How do I know? Somehow I just do.
Terrye on April 4, 2009 at 6:28 PM
To be honest, I think it is silly but the hand holding was worse and creepy.
getalife on April 4, 2009 at 6:28 PM
The Washington Post has yet to report on Obama’s submissive bow. And here’s the only comment on it from an on-line question to the Post’s White House correspondent, Michael A. Fletcher (via Power Line):
So, this seasoned “journalist” for one of our country’s leading newspapers failed to notice:
1- Obama did not bow down before any other head of state as shown in the videos Hot Air has run and anyone can find on YouTube;
2- No other head of state bowed down before any other head of state, as again shown on the videos;
3- There is a significant symbolic difference between one head of state bowing down before another, and two heads of state standing side by side as equals, even if kissing a cheek or holding hands;
4- Diplomatic “symbolism” is an crucial part of diplomacy, and that’s why there is a White House Office devoted to it;
5- The entire previous proud history of US diplomatic protocol, for which this submissive display is unprecedented (e.g. Jesse Owens not dipping the US flag to Hitler at the 1936 Olympics);
5- King Abdullah’s prior statements in opposition to people bowing, “because I believe that one only bows before one’s God,” so that it should have been considered disrespectful to bow before the King; and
6- The potential for our nation’s enemies using or being emboldened by the video and images of the President’s submission.
However, without doing any research on the matter at all, just of the top of his head, this “journalist” is “sure the president was only trying to convey respect,” and besides, it’s just like Bush did, and so let’s bury it and change the subject.
However, President Obama’s act of submission is either an intentional or a thoughtless betrayal of our country’s proud traditions and values. It will appear in campaign ads, if not in 2010, then in 2012. And regardless of the MSM’s attempt to bury this story or dismiss its obvious meaning, Obama’s submission is not going to be forgotten.
Loxodonta on April 4, 2009 at 6:29 PM
getalife:
You idiot. That was the old King. He actually lost his balance and Bush took his hand when they were walking. It is the kind of thing a younger person does and besides bowing is a sign of submission. Kissing someone on the cheek is a sign of respect.
Terrye on April 4, 2009 at 6:30 PM
You’re not really trying at all, which makes you a thinking midget. You’re just looking at it from a Bush 43/Obama perspective. You’re really a lost cause. Brains are disappointed.
Entelechy on April 4, 2009 at 6:30 PM
She is ready to service her
countryprecedent.Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Be a close call as to who holds more power over the US, China or Saudi Arabia, but I think China would win in a squeaker.
The NYSLIMES is attempting to bury this story just like they buried Obama’s illegal raid on ACORN’s membership list in October 2008, cause it was a ‘game changer’.
eaglewingz08 on April 4, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Don’t go to San Francisco, then, if you don’t want to see men holding hands.
Wethal on April 4, 2009 at 6:33 PM
But this kind of thing happens all the time with Obama. The double standard is breath taking. If Bush gets thousands of people to go into Iraq with the US, he is unilateral. Obama gets 35 Belgians and he is multilateral. Bush keeps the Russians at bay, Obama writes them a letter promising to stab the Poles in the back and they publish the letter. Just to humiliate him. And yet somehow Bush is supposed to be the dumb one. If Bush had made anywhere near the mistakes Obama has made they would crucify him.
Not to mention Michelle manhandling the Queen. Let’s imagine Sarah Palin touching the Queen and the media reaction to it.
disgusting.
Terrye on April 4, 2009 at 6:33 PM
All those Kenyans are Arab wannabes. It is some kind of an upgrade but in their own line. Remember that Arabs are despots with bling and harems.
For a black kid, playing Arab is like the white trash in jail wanting to be Aryan warriors or Irishmen thinking that they are descended from Irish kings every March.
Not like upper middle class white kids wanting to be black or ivy league/prep school students or teachers wanting to be like The One and his family. That is different. That is suicidal.
IlikedAUH2O on April 4, 2009 at 6:34 PM
You left out the best parts-
1.Clinton sexually exploited a female workplace subordinate, in the workplace, no less.
If a Republican President had done the same thing, NOW would have demanded that he be taken out back and shot, preferably in the groin area.
2. Clinton also asked others to lie for him. Including the intern.
Del Dolemonte on April 4, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Bubba vs. nObama
Both are Democrats, Liberal, Liers and have Fugly wives…hummm, the media thought Bubba was Black…ohhh I see said the blind man. Behold the power of racial healing!
dmann on April 4, 2009 at 6:36 PM
They can say what they will, but Bush had a lot better idea about how to act at these things.
Terrye on April 4, 2009 at 6:38 PM
She’s had a bad few days.
First of all, she got busted for cutting and pasting the latest NY Times/C-BS “poll” re. O’bama’s “job approval”. Said “poll” attained its desired result by sampling 35% more Democrats than Republicans.
And today, after claiming over the past few days that she “supported the troops”, she was forced to admit that
she voted for Jean-Claude Kerri in 2004, thus proving that her claim about being a “proud Independent” was about as truthful as Bill Clinton’s Grand Jury testimony.
Del Dolemonte on April 4, 2009 at 6:40 PM
No, I totally disagree. You know when Bush dropped the S-bomb about Hezbollah – so embarrassing (to Obama)
/sarc
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Is it okay for the President to kiss and hold hands with a Saudi King?
getalife on April 4, 2009 at 6:17 PM
In ‘Frisco it is!
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Faisal didn’t return the bow to Obama.
Obama loses. We lose, too.
Wahabbi’s cheer.
Greg Toombs on April 4, 2009 at 6:42 PM
Thanks for reminding me-getalife also falsely claimed that Pappy Bush threw up all over the Japanese Prime Minister. When provided a cite from the NY Times proving that he had not done so (he threw up all over himself), she tried to change the subject.
Del Dolemonte on April 4, 2009 at 6:42 PM
I still say the The One and his spouse just hate the Brits.
The G-20 will be spun into a success.
The bowing by The One will be turned into a brilliant move.
If we don’t do something about this media, we deserve what we get.
IlikedAUH2O on April 4, 2009 at 6:43 PM
Did she recite one of her cut-n-paste poems from Rosie’s site?
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:43 PM
Well, it sounds like you process it about like I do. It’s amusing, interesting on some level…but my intent was certainly not to declare anything. I was just tossing it out there for fun.
The Mabus thing is pretty freaking weird, though.
capitalist piglet on April 4, 2009 at 6:44 PM
He also was coming down with a bad case of flu. Sometimes you just don’t make it out of the room in time.
Wethal on April 4, 2009 at 6:45 PM
Do these guys know Larry Craig?
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 6:46 PM
What would you have us do? It’s not like we are religiously watching their programs and buying their newspapers? The only way many of them will survive is if Teh One bails them out. I was hoping that he could give each employee of the NYT a new job of daily bowing to the King of SA… That’s stimulus I can live with.
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:46 PM
Where is Michele, Sasha, and Mahlia? I bet they expect a lot more out of them eh?
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 6:47 PM
How about that. I always thought he threw up on him, but that’s because I occasionally read DU for entertainment. So they lied.
Currently, they’re posting a photoshopped picture of President Bush kissing this freak-in-a-sheet on the lips.
Lying is a hard habit to break, I guess.
capitalist piglet on April 4, 2009 at 6:47 PM
Greg Toombs— We will usually lose with The One. Look at his resume and imagine his winning ANYTHING competitive. Economics, international relations and war do not have scores or results adjusted for affirmative action goals. And awwaaayyyy we go!
IlikedAUH2O on April 4, 2009 at 6:48 PM
They made a quick trip back to their home planet…
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:48 PM
I really want to know what his grades were in university… I’m thinking fairly “eh.”
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Send them Meghan McCain. Those arabs really like those blondies with meat on their bones…..lotsa meat….
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 6:51 PM
I will proudly say that I threw up on my second grade teacher (when the kid says, “I have to go!”, it’s not time for a quiz), and one of my boyfriends who insisted I was NOT sick (is food poisoning technically “sick”?)…so I am all kinds of simpatico with the man.
capitalist piglet on April 4, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Upstater:
There was also the time Bush got caught speaking with food in his mouth at some dinner. Blair was standing behind him and bending over to speak to him and words were passed. In fact if I remember correctly Bush said something a tad off color. Oh my……
Terrye on April 4, 2009 at 6:57 PM
But Bush did not suck up the way this clown does. No siree.
Terrye on April 4, 2009 at 6:58 PM
DelDolemonte:
If getalife is a proud independent, I am Cherry Blair.
Terrye on April 4, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Hussein is the media darling,…nothing more, nothing less.
All of them will crash and burn.
christene on April 4, 2009 at 7:00 PM
It’ a disgrace. And I have a few more things to say about that and @
The CJ Political Report on April 4, 2009 at 7:04 PM
I don’t think so, Jim. This occurred in a crowd. Almost an unguarded moment. Maybe he is just insane, and just doesn’t think like you and I do, and also doesn’t think like you and I would think he might be thinking if he were like you and me ARG my tongue is now all tangled up!
There is something really off about this. Like milk that has gone slightly sour. I don’t mean just this one thing, but the whole package. (Besides his radical politics, I mean.)
Something majorly off, and we can see it, we feel it, and we know it, but (a) we can’t figure it out precisely what it is, and (b) more importantly, we can’t figure how so many people could somehow not notice it.
We might even think to ourselves – if so many people don’t notice something is majorly off, maybe it isn’t!
It could be something as simple as electing someone from another country and expecting him to act like an American. Or it could be one of several other possibilities too awful to seem likely.
But something is majorly off. How many signs is it going to take before more people cop to that fact? Apparently a whole lot more.
Alana on April 4, 2009 at 7:04 PM
Yes, why do you keep bringing this up? It just makes me so embarrassed of Booosh and especially his wife Laura.
Now we have a first couple to be proud of – finally. Obama is the master of grovelling to tyrants and Michelle is the chewbacca from the west.
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 7:07 PM
The media cannot die fast enough.
They have forgotten their mission.
No, they have chosen political allies.
artist on April 4, 2009 at 7:09 PM
NYT sold its soul and the price in the end will be its very existence.
TheBigOldDog on April 4, 2009 at 7:13 PM
OK, now I get it…
Remember this? Well, Carter was telling Obama, “When you get to the G20, make sure you stroke the ego of Saudi Arabia, and if at all possible throw a few Juice under the bus…”
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 7:15 PM
Could be, but I don’t know that being “in a crowd” has to do with it.
Jim Treacher on April 4, 2009 at 7:16 PM
When they finally go under, they will simply move their HQ to the WH and start writing Rahm’s propaganda – it wouldn’t be like they aren’t ready for that job. Heck, they’d be the most qualified appointees of Obama.
Upstater85 on April 4, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Or without consequences.
Great post, Loxy. I’m thinking this incident needs to be on lots of placards at the upcoming tea parties this month, seeing as how it’s not yet gotten the traction it ought.
Salut!
Maquis on April 4, 2009 at 7:21 PM
Our president fears an enemy, and disrespects an allie. Gee, I never saw it coming!
afotia on April 4, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Arrogant effiminate sissy-boy!!!!
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 7:29 PM
Personally I don’t care whether Obama bows to royalty or gooses them. That’s all symbolic protocol BS. It’s the actual groveling and apologizing to heads of state that makes me puke.
Even worse than the Arabs are the cowardly Europeans who obsequiously caved in to Hitler in the 30s and are doing the same with the Arab terrorists (I mean “overseas contingency operators”) today. Yet to these arrogant, sniveling poltroons, Obama apologizes for Americans being arrogant. What gall.
Obama is clearly an outclassed, outmaneuvered buffoon who is accruing shame to this nation.
MaiDee on April 4, 2009 at 7:30 PM
…….. this should not be taken lightly,
especially with what Mr. Teleprompter just did to the sovereignty of the United States.
He sold us out……
…….. pure and simple. This man is a disaster!
Seven Percent Solution on April 4, 2009 at 7:39 PM
The spike.
pat on April 4, 2009 at 7:48 PM
If I ever meet Obama, I will bare my butt so he can kiss it.
Obama is a disgrace. May he drop dead.
BottomLine5 on April 4, 2009 at 7:48 PM
Another story the NYT and the LAT won’t cover…
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Testimony-Nunez-Confessed-to-Stabbing-Victim–.html
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 7:49 PM
Thanks, but too long and boring. Also no v*lg*r*t**s or abbr’s or smiley faces. I am just so not with the contemporary internest style guide. But, at least I’m not a German basher, like some people.
Loxodonta on April 4, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Are you sure it wasn’t a VRWC?
Branch Rickey on April 4, 2009 at 7:51 PM
The newsies are the propaganda arm of the Donks…
the 4th estate is a fifth column.
sven10077 on April 4, 2009 at 7:52 PM
from the NYT
http://tiny.cc/mA5za
excerpt
Del Dolemonte on April 4, 2009 at 7:52 PM
The Anchoress has a great site. I’m there daily after checking out Michelle’s signature site, and this, her “second” site.
Obama screwed up. Obama is a scew up! The idiots at the NYT will probably claim the 1994 story was a mistake or a plant by Karl Rove.
Zorro on April 4, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Thanks. I never read that thread. Very funny.
Perhaps Mr. Carter was signaling his desire for one of these.
Hallo!
Loxodonta on April 4, 2009 at 7:56 PM
It takes all kinds. I find myself gravitating to lengthier posts often because some posters truly offer an opportunity to learn, or reflect. Bloggers do not live by snark alone.
Moi?
Maquis on April 4, 2009 at 8:06 PM
The Hussein is such an ass clown. What number is this gaffe? I lost count…
dogsoldier on April 4, 2009 at 8:12 PM
Ob-
ama-seqiousprofitsbeard on April 4, 2009 at 8:13 PM
I love trashing clowns who hate America and Americans!!!
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 8:14 PM
Nein! I was referring to some knucklehead … or something …
Loxodonta on April 4, 2009 at 8:14 PM
Very much agreed. Although not every day, I’m there regularly as well, but somehow missed her posting on the Times hypocrisy.
Loxodonta on April 4, 2009 at 8:17 PM
And Mabus was Ambassador to Saudi Arabia… which ties in with the bowing… hmmmmmmm…..
mankai on April 4, 2009 at 8:20 PM
Hey, out here in California, I just got a phone call from an out-of-state guy supporting PROP.1A, telling me how supporting the TWO-YEAR TAX EXTENSION is gonna reign in uncontrolled spending by our State Legislature!!! ha ha ha ha ha
RealDemocrat on April 4, 2009 at 8:20 PM
Thyomas Jefferson wrote in letters to his young male relatives that it is best not to travel or live abroad in one’s young years, because then one develops attachments to some foreign country rather than one’s own, and after one returns home, one is always hankering after that foreign country and is not happy where one is.
aengus on April 4, 2009 at 8:21 PM
Well, I guess I was just thinking that he wouldn’t be thinking that people would be noticing, or filming it. Or something.
Of course, that would be stupid!
Alana on April 4, 2009 at 8:23 PM
*Thanking God for being ill and missing this*
Branch Rickey on April 4, 2009 at 8:26 PM
I read book recently about Nostradamus and his most famous predictions. He did good work as a plague doctor, effectively inventing good hygiene in the Middle Ages and saving lots of lives. But he was drawing on the occult so like you I am a little wary of his influence.
aengus on April 4, 2009 at 8:26 PM
Nope. He’s completely daffy.
The best way to rob a bank:
Obama Franks Waters LLC
unclesmrgol on April 4, 2009 at 8:28 PM
Now, where did this kid get that idea?
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/pittsburgh-shooter-poplawski-didnt-o
getalife on April 4, 2009 at 8:33 PM
capitalist, Nostradamus used all sorts of symbolism, but imagine that he decided to use parts of the name to make up Mabus, sufficiently cryptically to last centuries in quatrain. Well let’s look at the name
(Oba)Ma b(arack) (H)us(sein).
Frightening.
eaglewingz08 on April 4, 2009 at 8:34 PM
Cool. I did make mention of the German language in my last responses on the Prostration of State thread the other day… so had to check! I responded there also to your apparent concern for francophone tendencies. ;)
I didn’t see the German bashing incident myself, not perusing the blog too thoroughly today…however, I do have some issues with the German psyche myself…
Maquis on April 4, 2009 at 8:39 PM
I really wish you would stop trying to portray the President as a homosexual!
DannoJyd on April 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM
obaMA-BUSh…
hmm.
;)
mankai on April 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM
Obama is clearly an outclassed, outmaneuvered buffoon who is accruing shame to this nation.
MaiDee
Dead center of the ten ring. Well said, MaiDee.
SKYFOX on April 4, 2009 at 8:41 PM
Until I read that I thought the NYTimes was really in trouble, now I’m pretty sure it’s only union negotiations.
The Times is fine.
petunia on April 4, 2009 at 8:48 PM
The obligatory anagram re-post:
President Barack Obama
=
An Arab backed imposter
Loxodonta on April 4, 2009 at 8:52 PM
I’d have to agree the best way to rob a bank is to turn it over to our Democratic government. They give you money with not strings. Add strings after the fact. Then won’t take the money back. Viola government confiscated bank. It was pretty slick better than Oceans 11.
petunia on April 4, 2009 at 8:53 PM
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