How things change

April 6th, 2009 By: Michael van der Galien | Tags: , , , ,
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king abdullahNYT hypocrisy: blasting Clinton for nodding, letting Obama get away with major bow.

Ed Morrissey (read the entire post) points out that the New York Times‘ refusal to cover President Barack Obama’s strange bow before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is a bit… hypocritical:

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…

Go to Hot Air for the video of Obama bowing (nearly to the ground) when he met King Abdullah. Interestingly enough he greeted Britain’s Queen Elizabeth with a mere nod of the head.

Is this a major issue? Of course not, it’s not of gigantic importance. However, Obama should know better than to bow for any foreign ruler, especially one who oppresses his own people and condones the stoning of women and other inhumane acts.

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