White House: It Wasn't a Bow

The White House on Thursday said President Obama's greeting of Saudi King Abdullah "wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."

Anyone who saw the video of the meeting between King Abdullah and President Obama would disagree. Could it be possible that President Obama lost a contact lens and perhaps dropped it near the feet of King Abdullah and was searching for it by bending down in front of the King? Either this or President Obama did actually bow down to the King. There is only one of these two possibilities, given that his head and upper body was bent down at a very drastic angle, to the extent that his head was at the same level as the King's chest.

But what is most embarrassing is the fact that the White House is trying to cover up the incident. Rather than accepting the fact that the President did bow to the Saudi King (as was clearly visible in the videos of the incident), the White House decided to come out, Clintonian style, with a blatant lie that it wasn't a bow.

Washington Times took the gesture as a bow and said, "In a shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate, President Obama bowed to Saudi King Abdullah at the Group of 20 summit in London last week."

Washington Times went on to add: "By bending over to show greater respect to Islam, the U.S. president belittled the power and independence of the United States."

Interestingly, a columnist in the Saudi-backed Arabic paper Asharq Alawsat also took the gesture as a bow, acknowledged it, and appreciated the move

Apparently there is no precedence of any other US president bowing to any other head of a nation. Interestingly President Obama didn't show the same respect to the Queen when he met her and didn't bow to her. People are asking the question, why did Mr.Obama bow to the Saudi monarch when he didn't bow to the Queen. What is so special with the Saudi King that Obama felt the need to bow to him, his peer and not his superior?

Normal protocol dictates that the head of any nation doesn't bow to head of another nation. He went against the normal protocol, but coincidentally, some of his other statements are concerning a few people. To list a few:

1) Obama has said in his own words in his book "Audacity of Hope":

"I will stand with [the Muslims] should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

2) President Obama said in his own words during his recent overseas trip to a Muslim Country the following:

"Islamic faith which has done so much over centuries to shape the world -- including in my own country,"

(Historians are struggling to find a single proof of what the Islamic faith has done so much to shape our country, the United States of America, in the past 100 years and what Obama was referring to when he said that, when the only thing we got was 9/11 devastation as a result of Islamic radical terrorists.)

3) President Obama also mentioned during his overseas trip that "we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.".

(Many people feel frustrated that he left the sentence much incomplete in the above and that he should have very clearly added the words "We consider ourselves a nation of citizens bound by ideals and set of Judeo-Christian values" to his sentence, since our constitution writers kept that as a key reference when drafting the constitution and that is why we are such a prosperous and great country now)

Given all his pro-Muslim, not so pro-Christian comments / behavior listed above, his bow to the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia and subsequent White House refusal of the "clearly evident" bow is very interesting. White House could have diluted the controversy by acknowledging that President Obama did actually bow to the Saudi King and it happened just because the President got too enthusiastic and emotional upon meeting the Saudi King. White House is only making the controversy grow bigger by refusing to accept what we all saw on the videos.

Perhaps is the White House trying to blow this controversy up bigger and make people talk about this with the intention of distracting the people from other important policy talks like the bail out (which millions disagree with) or socialized medicine? Perhaps is the White House trying to blow up this "bow" controversy bigger just to divert the attention of people from talking about Obama's failure to get any combat troop support from other countries (for Afghan mission) during his overseas trip, as against what he and we wanted? Perhaps is the White House trying to blow this "bow" controversy bigger just to divert the attention of people from talking about Obama's failure to get United Nations to even pass a statement condemning North Korea missile launch?

References:
www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/06/obama-arrives-turkey-strengthen-ties/
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=16327
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/06/obama-us-not-a-christian_n_183772.html
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html