Obama's Latest Bow Should Sicken Every American

There he goes again.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama performed a deep bow when greeting the emperor and empress of Japan. The royal couple, of course, did not return the bow.

This sickens me to no end. Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs. EVER. This especially applies to the president.

Such bowing is a sign of subservience, not a sign of respect as Obama apparently thinks. Heads of state do not bow to each other. It is a breach of international protocol. In fact, if you look at this bow, the emperor and empress seem uncomfortable or mildly amused by Obama's despicable behavior.

Even beyond international protocol, it is distinctly un-American.

The whole idea of the United States is an opposition to monarchy. The American Revolutionary War was fought so we would never have to bow to a monarch.

Even Miss Manners rejects the idea of Americans bowing to foreign monarchs: "[Americans do] not bow or curtsy to a foreign monarch because the gesture symbolizes recognition of [his] power over [his] subjects. One nevertheless treats [him] with respect." ("Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium," p. 697).

As you recall, Obama did the same thing to the king of Saudi Arabia back in April at the G-20 summit. He was the only head of state to bow to another head of state at the conference. Moreover, he only did so to the king of Saudi Arabia. The night before, when he met Queen Elizabeth, he performed no such bow even though England has been our strongest ally for more than a century. Michele Obama even violated protocol by putting her arm around the Queen.

So why bow to a Muslim king and not to the English queen?

I find it very odd, especially given the fact that the Saudi king had banned bowing to him for his own subjects because, as he said, men should only bow to God, not to other men.

In 2007, Vice President Dick Cheney met the Japanese emperor and appropriately shook his hands. In 1994, when President Bill Clinton appeared to make a small bow to the emperor, the White House was quick to deny that it was a bow.

For more than two centuries, the U.S. State Department has rightly warned government officials, including the president, against bowing to foreign heads of state.

While the April bow might have been chalked up to a learning experience for the new president, this latest bow is inexcusable. Obama owes an apology to all Americans for performing an act of subservience to a foreign monarch while representing the American people as a whole.