Hope and Fail

Another bow, this time in Japan

President Obama was soundly criticized for bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia in April, and after the White House’s reaction one could assume he’d learn his lesson.

He didn’t.

Obama stooped again when greeting Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. From Fox News:

President Obama’s deep bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito on Saturday may not have violated any official protocol, but critics of the presidential act of deference nevertheless say he’s guilty of bad form.

The incident followed Obama’s dip to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in April, which the White House said was not a bow despite the criticism that followed.

But in Japan, the White House could not argue with a photograph that showed him bent at a nearly 90-degree angle while shaking the hand of the emperor, as Empress Michiko smiled faintly next to him.

Actually, it is a break with protocol and offended the Japanese. A friend of ABC News’ Jake Tapper relays this:

Obama’s handshake/forward lurch was so jarring and inappropriate it recalls Bush’s back-rub of Merkel.

Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.

The bow as he performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms….The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.