As you can readily surmise, everything hinges on the all important angle. And, that is especially true in cases involving sitting kings and tall, slender presidents. But, that should be quite obvious.

Now, granted, it does get a little trickier with respect to standing emperors...to accurately calculate and analyze the all important angle, I mean.

But, in any event, if you think this discussion is anything but entirely non-serious, then forget about swampland in Florida - for now, anyway - because I have a decrepit house and/or levee in the most vulnerable part of New Orleans that you may be interested in re-building and encouraging people to live in it in the absence of a firm, ironclad commitment on the part of all levels of government to restore the wetlands and barrier islands of coastal Louisiana. And, about THAT, I am deadly serious.

And...???

Does a sitting king mean that one must bow??

Or are you saying that, in both cases, Obama merely "leaned" and did not bow??

Because if that's what ya believe, I have some swampland in Florida I wanna sell ya! :D

Michale.....

I think we've already established that the Saudi king was seated at the time of the alleged pronounced bow. You're not following along here. :)

That's sarcasm, right? I recognize that.. :D

Chris, perhaps it is that Obama is a very tall person and the emperor is a very short person. There's almost eighteen inches in between them; Obama practically had to bend ninety degrees just to take his hand.

Oh, come now, do you REALLY believe that?? While you may have been born at night, I am pretty sure it wasn't LAST night... :D

My grandson is a lot shorter than the emperor. I am about the same height as Obama, give or take. I can shake hands with my grandson without kissing my shoe laces.

Face facts. Obama bowed in a subservient and servile manner towards the Saudi king and the Japanese emperor.

The fact that ya'all try to spin it or explain it away simply compounds and emphasizes the transgression.

A US President should always show a backbone when dealing with world leaders. Obama might as well be Gumby for all the backbone he shows.

Michale.....

I'm so glad we cleared this up.

Yes, there must be an ulterior motive. What do you suppose it might be? And, do you think the vice president is involved?

That much is apparent..

I am more interested in the "WHY".

Is he a coward?

Or is there an ulterior motive??

Michale.....

Ha! Now, when did I ever use 'arrogant' and 'pompous' to describe the president?

Maybe he just has a weak spine that goes out when he's on foreign soil...have you ever thought of that?

As I pointed out earlier, Obama is the pompous arrogant person you describe...

But only at home with the American people...

On the foreign front, Obama is the apologetic, subservient and humbled "leader".

It SHOULD be the other way around.

The President (ANY President) should be humbled and subservient to the American people. And pompous and arrogant on the foreign front.

Michale.....

Who cares if the bow isn't returned? The answer to that question may, in fact, be quite revealing.

...a bow between equals? Now, THAT was funny!

I can't believe that you are implying here that President Obama is acting in a subservient manner. Have you seen him strut his stuff or give a speech? I mean, subservient is the LAST adjective I would use, if it even crossed my mind.

I've been getting a lot of comments very similar to yours on the bowing thing. But I have to ask -- why was the bow not returned? Symbolically, if it had been a bow between equals, that would have been one thing. But it wasn't, which (in BOTH cultures) is a whole different thing.

-CW

I must take exception on one point: bowing is a basic element of Japanese culture. My grandfather was on MacArthur's occupation staff and regularly saw the general bow politely to Hirohito when they met. It's the same as shaking hands, a western practice adopted by the Japanese during the occupation. One might as well ask Obama to greet the Emperor of Japan with "yo, whassup?" as to fail to bow (which is why even Nixon bowed when meeting the emperor).