Washington, I am reminded, is a deeply silly place – although at this time of year, a very beautiful one. So we shouldn’t be overly surprised that legions of the president’s critics on the right are incensed at Mr. Obama’s jettisoning of two centuries protocol in his deeply subservient bow to an obviously flummoxed Japanese emperor. When all you’ve got in your toolkit is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, and any nail will do.
It’s a little more interesting however, watching those on the left – even if posting at “The Moderate Voice” – try to defend the indefensible. Even if the whole thing is, as I believe, rather too silly for words. Kathy, a kindly person of my sometime acquaintance through back channel correspondence, albeit one with markedly different political preferences than my own does so, and does so with a certain lack of grace, labeling those who object as “yokels.” Her commenters rightly take her to task, both on substance and tone.
Not every spasm of manufactured outrage on the right – or the left, for that matter – requires a counter-spasm from its increasingly polar opposite. The more customary and probably appropriate response when facing such an inconvenient set of facts is simply to ignore it, and hopefully move on to more substantive matters.
Like firing the White House protocol staff, for starters, who are serving not merely our president but also our country very poorly. Because getting the small things right in foreign diplomacy is important to all of us, since it sets the expectations of foreign leaders – all of whom are, quite naturally, angling for advantage – about the character and intelligence of the man they are negotiating with.
Our president is many things, but he is not nearly as stupid as his people are making him – and us – look.
For a start, Lex, perhaps Obama should not have fired the White House diplomatic protocol staff, which I understand was a permanent position for one or two or several experienced protocol experts who were there to instruct the ‘newbies’ we get every four or eight years on how now to embarrass themselves, and us, by stupid protocol mistakes, like giving important allies who visit us hastily bought tchotschkes from the White House gift shop, instead of thoughtful, special gifts in response to theirs.
When my husband and I were sent by his company to the Far East in a trip which included Japan, the company supplied us with some simple protocol training on how not to insult the people we were visiting. Bowing is an important part of the courtesies exchanged between Japanese business associates and political associates. The protocol trainers assured us that Westerners were not expected to understand or practice the small, yet significant variations of the greetings, but that a slight inclination of the upper body accompanied by an offer to shake hands would be acceptable.
What Obama gave was more like an obeisance, a deep bow with curved spine signifying an admission of inferior rank. Not a good signal to give, from what some say is still the most powerful nation in the world, to the highest official of a country which fought us in World War II, even if not successfully.
Protocol trainers could have helped Obama avoid this embarrassment, to him and to us. A natural instinct to adhere to American ideals of courtesy and self-respect would have helped.
As you say, the White House staff is serving Obama, and us, very poorly.
Marianne
I don’t think he cares about protocol. At least he didn’t when he insulted our best ally by sending back the bust of Churchill the Brits had given up.
No, he isn’t stupid. Which makes it worse. We were treated to almost two years of campaigning that pushed how intellegent he is, not like that stupid, bumbling, incomeptent Pres. Bush (who wasn’t running for anything). So, as such an intellegent person, he should have known the protocol, history and precident, no?
So, I can’t quite agree that the staff should take the hit for this.
My Uncle Dean, a B-29 radio operator whose plane was lost returning from Japan, is surely spinning, wherever his remain lie. A President of the US bowing to the Emperor of Japan….. as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable.
Here’s an interesting contrast in bowing style…
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_femhrxbNtS0/SwAuJWFu4dI/AAAAAAAACT8/QnIng4VUjCw/s1600-h/reaganhiro.jpg
Oh how I miss that guy…
To have someone like Reagan again…
Alos, it’s not the bowing per se; it’s the type of bow that he made, as one subservient to another. Should an American president bend slightly at the waist, look the Emperor in the eye and tilt his head forward slightly? Yes, that is proper, it is a greeting of respect among equals. A bow that says “I’m your servant, majesty”? Not no, but hell no. And I strongly object to this action for the exact same reasons why I objected to POTUS bowing to the head of the House of Saud. Further, I would object strongly to ANY POTUS regardless of party affiliation bowing deeply before a foreign ruler, just so you don’t get me wrong on this point.
Yeah, um, bowing is part of Japanese etiquette, sorry if that’s confusing to you and Matt Drudge. Maybe he should give Angela Merkel an impromptu back massage?
Read a little more Alos, before I come to the reluctant conclusion that you’re not clever enough to post here.
There’s a cleverness standard for commenters here? Uhoh…
Can’t be. I’d be banned.
Me, too…I guess I’ll have to hire that toastmaster’s guy to help make me clever.
Alos,
President Obama is not stupid, ignorant and inexperienced perhaps, but not stupid.
Yes, Japanese etiquette, not American. Who is confused here??
Still love your sense of duty on the picket line though. Did you get assigned or did you volunteer
wow! and they have the nerve to call it “The Moderate Voice”
“Yeah, um, bowing is part of Japanese etiquette, sorry if that’s confusing to you and Matt Drudge.”
Bowing is part of everyday Japanese culture, you are right. I have worked there. But it is my understanding that it is NOT proper protocol between heads of state. Also, as several commenters have pointed out on other sites, you do not bow and shake hands at the same time. Thus, if the Emperor had expected a bow, he would not have extended his hand. In this case, protocol dictated a handshake, like everyone else has done, NOT a bow.
Our president is many things, but he is not nearly as stupid as his people are making him – and us – look.
Your evidence for this is …?
Not for naught do I refer to the individual currently occupying the White House as “Barry Lackwit.”
I’m hafta disagree with ww here – Barry does not need any help looking stupid.
He is an incredibly dangerous combination of stupid + arrogance.
Alos … I regret to hurt your feelings, but you seem to have trouble reading for comprehension. Lex was very clear above, and so were his commenters. Perhaps you should consider a remedial reading course. Also, a course in courtesy and good manners is indicated.
Marianne
I have to believe after the reaction to his similar actions in Saudi Arabia the protocol office is probably blameless – there certainly can be no excuse of ignorance this time around. Mr. Obama knows exactly what he is doing.
On another forum a guy who has spent better than 16 years in Japan said that much of the take on this is basically “oh, the cute little gaijin! He thinks he knows our customs!”
Our President might not be stupid, but one wonders what he learned and retained from his “education” at those high-power ‘name’ institutions he attended. And since his educational records have not been released and it doesn’t appear that he’ll allow that to occur anytime this century, one also wonders what he’s hiding if he’s so smart by common acknowledgment.
So, he fired the protocol office personnel? That answers my question about it being something that should carry over from admin to admin to keep the information current. That was not so smart….more like it was petty.
I so hope and pray that in 2012 we get some class back in the White House. Just a… modicum would be nice.
Obama may not be stupid, but he sure acts that way. As that great philosopher Forrest Gump said “stupid is as stupid does.”
i agree that Ear Leader is not nearly as stupid as his people are making him look.
chances are that, without whatever poor guidance he is getting, or at least that which he pays some attention to, he would look as dumb as he really is, rather than the clueless half wit he as acted in public so far. i’ve got a Persian cat with more common sense that the First Empty Suit… and Persians are usually nothing more than a pretty face.
he reminds me of the brand new O-1 who knows everything/nothing, and won’t listen to anyone. unfortunately, someone in G-1 slotted him into the CO position, instead of the mess kit repair unit that has an opening….
(love the “Barry Lackwit”, btw…. i’m borrowing that for future use. %-)
I have a strong suspicion that the protocol officers served as well as can be expected. And were ignored. Remember, Obama is the guy that stated that he was smarter than any political director he could hire. Smarter than any campaign director he could hire.
But he apparently forgot the President of the United States bows to no king or potentate.
Steve C –
He couldn’t fire everyone in the travel office. That’s been done before.
AS to the travel office: Good point. BUT had he fired them he’d have a tough time getting his act out of town so as to avoid making tough decisions.
I wonder whether we are going to get an insider’s-view-type of book anytime (soon would be nice) telling us just what the heck is happening in the White House….my guess, as I’ve stated before, is that the current President is not one to read too much nor to have the experience to make the hard decisions. On the other hand he is the type, I BELIEVE, that has been so successful just using his communication abilities and his smile, and the fact that he has gotten a lot of passes in-school and out of it due to his skin color in combination with the foregoing, that he’s very much overly confident as to his own smarts, that he still thinks that he can get by with a little surface knowledge, some fast words, and reading the Teleprompter. None of which is any longer the case . . . since what he does now has real very public consequences with a lot of people watching, commenting, and beating him up when what he does or fails to do creates problems. It would be awfully nice to hear what is really happening behind the scenes to find out whether or not I’m right, close, or way wrong.
And another thing: Has anyone been listening to The President’s comments on anything when asked off-the-cuff? The guy can’t string more than one or two words together without major pauses to think through what he might say. More and more I sense the empty suit and someone who’s way way way over his head. Smart maybe. Educated? Questionable. Qualified? No way.
he thinks he is the smartest man in whatever room he is in…..
unfortunately, for him, and for us, even if it was a small, empty, padded room, he’d still be, on his best day, the first loser.
I can’t hold a candle to our humble host’s turn of phrase. Nor do I dare issue orders in his house. I can make a suggestion to Alos though- you add absolutely nothing to the discussion here, largely on the part of your glaring lack of maturity evident in the content of your comments. Go bother someone else at those other sites where the perpetual sophomoic bedwetters hang out.
Either we had qualified protocol officers in place -in which case the President ignored them- or we had idiot hacks in place, and who hired them?
While I won’t hold the POTUS responsible for every little detail, I’m getting tired of the “oh, that was a subordinate’s mistake.” Who hired the flipping subordinate, hm?
Barry has hired too many idiots, and they’ve hired followers. While I don’t consider the man himself at all an idiot, he does seem to have trouble grasping the concepts of leadership and responsibility.
For the proto-troll’s sake, I offer a link to a discussion at Castle Argghhh!!, wherein those who have lived and worked in Japan weigh in.
We continue to assume that Obama is intelligent. In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
The President reminds me of a mechanical engineer I know. We graduated from the same university at about the same time, saw each other in class, had slightly different backgrounds but our GPA’s were about the same. She’s very, very good in her field. She is also incapable of repairing a child’s toy, assembling the Christmas gifts, or doing any home repair. She is intelligent, educated, but not what I’d refer to as smart — she doesn’t draw from one area of expertise or experience to fill in gaps in another. She knows all the physics on why threaded fasteners work (nuts and bolts to the rest of us) but cannot turn a wrench.
Unlike Obama, she defers to the experience of others to fill in these gaps in her knowledge.
We’ve all known this guy. He’s the Nuc or the newly-minted 2nd Lieutenant who comes in fresh off being King of the Classroom thinking he’s all that and a box of Cracker Jacks. He has the manual memorized, mastered every test he’s taken, and doesn’t know a thing about how to do his job. Too proud, or too ignorant, to listen to his Chiefs and those who actually do the work day-in day-out, in my experience he usually maintains that pride until one of his mistakes places somebody in grave danger or actually gets them killed. At which point, somebody above him gives him a serious dressing-down, his confidence in himself is dashed, and he then he seeks out the advice of others and builds himself up again.
Except there’s nobody above him to give this dressing down. He’ll have to see it with his own eyes and assign the blame to himself personally.
God help us, and I hope I’m wrong, I think it’s going to take a disaster before Obama figures out he isn’t the Administration and is merely top cog in a very large machine that has to mesh to keep the Ship of State afloat.
10% unemployment, multi-trillion dollar deficit, sweeping away the capitalist system if the company is too large to fail, throwing friends and followers and allies under the bus…
Whatever it’s going to take to open his eyes, I sure hope The Republic lives through it.
– Max
I am not sure if Mr. Obama is not so much stupid, as he very lazy intellectually. I think that he honestly believes that he is as wise and all knowing, ( which can’t be true, as only Badgers of Norwegian ancestery can make that claim ). He is obviously quite arrogant, and I find him to be quite frightening, as arrogance, and ignorance a scary combination.
I think The WON is doing this on purpose. I think it began with the “I AM THE WORLD!” speech in Berlin. I believe, at some level of consciousness, he thinks he is campaigning for President of the World (POTW – but maybe “POW” would be easier to roll off the tongue), and part of that is to “bow” to others to show he can serve them.
He somehow, can’t bow to his fellow citizens, as the leader who is to serve us, yet he can travel aboard (already more so than any other president, during a severe financial crisis, while “bowing” to the religion of Al Gore (which increasingly makes Obams look like the hypocritical Evangelist with the big TV show, asking for your money, then spending it on hookers and fast cars and big houses, doesn’t it?), spewing atmosphere killing carbon in his wake of two 747s and the gaggle of C-17s, and H-3/53/60s, too) and redefine us as too arrogant and in need of a spanking by those who have “suffered” at the hand of the imperialist Americans.
Bottom line, I think it’s a vote getting strategy, but in the international arena. Stages the “Come on! I really am doing it for your own good” request as he moves ahead in botching up the entire international geo-politics of the established nations.
Same as moving Jihadis to a prison just outside…wait for it!!….CHICAGO! Look, he can now justify a few things: 1) Money to the Chicago area (wow…how could that possibly smell like pork?), which most likely will be funded by DoD money (not DoJ funds), at the expense of some program like…oh, let’s just say BMD (sorry, SJS, get your resumes tweaked up) and 2) get the left left wingers back in his column for the 2010 voting season (which looks to be all about Obama all the time coming up). Not to mention the squishy middle who just loves to see us hand out “justice” or technical issues that let the already confessed guilty go free.
Related thought: Unless you’re a “domestic terrorist” like Tim McVeigh, in which case we should shoot you, hang you, then try your remains and flush your ashes down the nearest public toilet with a large civil ceremony.
Seems 46 other world leaders meeting the Emperor just shook hands… Just go to the video….
All partisanship aside, Obama strikes me as one of those very bright young fellows who has thus far gotten by on raw intellect rather than deep knowledge, experience, or wisdom… and who has now run head-first smack into a situation (the presidency) where intellect and the ability that comes with it to rapidly guess a mostly-sufficient answer is simply not good enough. And he hasn’t surrounded himself with a wise or experienced staff which could help make up for the lack.
Short version; he’s been smart enough up til now to fake his way through when he didn’t actually know what he was doing, but his luck has run out, and he’s in over his head.
God help us all, should a REAL emergency arise while he’s still unready for it.
Perhaps the Republican underground covert dirty tricks office has infiltrated the WH protocol office. That would explain a great deal…
Rough place, DC.