Sunday, April 5, 2009

In betweener

I have to share something about a picture I have seen in the news (not the main stream news) which makes me uneasy. I had a weird dream about it last night. It is a picture taken at the G20, President Obama bows down to the Saudi king with bowed head and bended knee. You might think, ‘hey, he just likes the Saudi king’ or ‘he just pays respect to a monarch’.

But considering protocol, a leader or civilian does not bow to foreign monarchs, because that act signified the monarch's power over his subjects. It is not fitting for an American president to bow down to any monarch. Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, doesn’t stand for human rights and many other things which is far from American standard and values. All the attendances of the G20 shacked hands and the American president bows down, full, for the Saudi king. He greeted the English Queen quite informal, so it is not a misunderstanding on about how to address a monarch….

It makes me weary… Is there really something significant changing in this world? What do Americans think about this?

7 comments:

Lowell said...

This American thinks he dropped his I-Pod.

Halcyon said...

Hee to Jacob. Although I think Obama uses a Blackberry. :)

I never really thought about it - but I agree with you. US leaders do not have to bow and kowtow, but perhaps he just wanted to get their first meeting off to a good start. Our last president wasn't so good with foreign relations so we have a lot to make up for!

Cezar and Léia said...

Wonderful Jacob!
:-)

Ρωμανός ~ Romanós said...

Obama is the official president of the United States, for now, but maybe not for long, as there is more antipathy for this president early in his term than I have seen against any president in my life (Eisenhower is the first one I remember as a child). He is probably not a native-born American, and when this comes out finally, it will provoke a constitutional crisis.

As for his bowing to the Sa'udi king, Obama is just, as we say, a doofus (a fool, an ignoramus), a small-town boy wearing big city suits: he bows at whatever or whoever he thinks should be bowed to, without thinking. He probably thought it would make him look respectful, like when a little boy genuflects in a Catholic church, even though it's no longer required.

The president of the United States is the head of state of the most powerful and richest country on earth. I don't think even Obama really believes he's the president. He knows he's a fraud, and so he's trying to do his best to cover up the fact, and hope nobody notices.

Unfortunately he can't do even THAT right. Oh well.

Copenhagen said...

Maybe someone didn't brief him before meeting. His wife also did something wrong when they met with the Queen of England.

Lowell said...

Sorry, but we do not need comments insulting the president of the United States who has something like an 86% approval rating - and that's not antipathy.

Can we keep this crap off the photo blogs, please!

Lowell said...

@ P - Romanos: I see that you consider yourself a Christian. Ha!