Bowing to the Saudi king
President Barack Obama bows while greeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia during the G20 summit in Lond.
The president of the United States, the most powerful nation in the world, bowed — bowed — to another head of state during the G20 summit in London. And not just any head of state, but the prince of Saudi Arabia.
Remember when the press and everyone went nuts over George W. Bush holding the king’s hand?
And now The One is bowing to the world’s oil baron. He didn’t even extend that courtesy to Queen Elizabeth yesterday.
Why does it matter? Here’s The Washington Times:
Symbolism is important in world affairs. By bending over to show greater respect to Islam, the U.S. president belittled the power and independence of the United States.
The bow was an extraordinary protocol violation. Such an act is a traditional obeisance befitting a king’s subjects, not his peer. There is no precedent for U.S. presidents bowing to Saudi or any other royals. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt shook hands with Saudi King Abdulaziz in February 1945. Granted, Mr. Roosevelt was wheelchair-bound, but former President Dwight D. Eisenhower shook hands when he first met King Saud in January 1957. Mr. Obama’s bow to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques does not help his image with those who believe he is secretly a Muslim, and why he chose to bow only to the Saudi King and not to any other royals remains unexplained.
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. Article I Section 9 of the Constitution forbids titles of nobility and stipulates that no officeholder or government employee may “accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state” without the consent of Congress. 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.”
Sources
Hot Air, April 2, 2009
The Washington Times, April 7, 2009
