Obama BOWS to the Saudi King

[Edward]

Obama Bow to Saudi King Labeled 'Shocking'

In what's been called a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate," President Barack Obama bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia at the Group of 20 summit meeting in London.


"The bow was an extraordinary protocol violation," The Washington Times observed in an editorial on Tuesday.


"Such an act is a traditional obeisance befitting a king's subjects, not his peer. There is no precedent for U.S. presidents bowing to Saudi or any other royals," the editorial said.


Obama offered King Abdullah a deep and prolonged bow from the waist when he met him at the summit, which brought together the leaders of the world’s largest economies on April 2.


The story about Obama’s unusual gesture has gotten scant media coverage in the United States, but a Spanish TV broadcast was picked up on blogs and has created an Internet stir.

"No Americans of any station are required to bow to royalty," the Times stated. "It is one of the pillars of American exceptionalism that our country rejected traditional caste divisions."

The Times editorial also opined that Obama’s bow "to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques does not help his image with those who believe he is secretly a Muslim, and why he chose to bow only to the Saudi king and not to any other royal remains unexplained."


For instance, Obama did not bow to Queen Elizabeth when he first met her last week in London. Subjects of the crown may bow to the monarch but are not required to do so.


First lady Michelle Obama also broke protocol during the Obamas’ trip abroad when she put her hand on the queen’s back. The move caused a bit of tempest in the British press, but was quelled when the queen put her hand on Michelle in what a Buckingham Palace spokesman described as a "mutual and spontaneous display of affection and appreciation."



http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Obama_bow_king/2009/04/08/201193.html?s=al&promo_code=7DA5-1

I do not know how to link the video on this page. Please go to the link to view it..

It would appear that Obama is bowing like a servant to his king... mo.

[nonesuche]

Edward I saw this video yesterday FOX did run it and it concerns me greatly. I know that our Presidents are briefed on protocol, even in my work with international travel we are briefed on protocol. So it isn't as if either of the Obama's didn't know proper and appropriate protocol.

I'm okay with their penchant for a more casual presence such as his shooting basketball or she wearing cardigans, those things aren't issues for me. However to bow to Saudi Arabia and to embrace the Queen physically, it's almost as if the Obama's are thumbing their nose in the face of convention. In a very diverse world the traditions do matter for not every nation will appreciate the casualness of the Obama's.

This also isn't about friendship, it's about building alliances that strengthen our country and just as one works to be a good parent, being 'friends' isn't the most important element. Garnering respect is an important element, something I think is lost on our presidency now.

It is troubling......

[oldiebutgoodie]

Charles Johnson, whose [CONSERVATIVE] blog, "Little Green Footballs," is best known for its key role in uncovering the reporting flub by 60 Minutes that led to the ouster of legendary news anchor Dan Rather, provided a video showing Bush bowing before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to accept a medallion.

(Click here to watch the video.)

"More than a few people on the right are screaming that Barack Obama should be impeached for bowing to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia," Johnson wrote. "Those of you who are buying into this hyperventilating nonsense need to see this video."

Johnson said American presidents have long been kowtowing to the Saudi Arabian loyalty, and will continue to do so for as long as America is addicted to the country's oil.

"Instead of impeaching Barack Obama, America needs to impeach its gas tanks."

[...]

"Presidential pandering to the Saudis has been going on for decades, it didn't start with Barack Obama, and it's purely hypocritical to make excuses for George W. Bush while screaming that Obama did something no other President has ever done," he wrote.

MORE...



And for even greater perspective...

FROM A DECEMBER 2001 ARTICLE:

Bush Advisers Cashed in on Saudi Gravy Train

Many of the same American corporate executives who have reaped millions of dollars from arms and oil deals with the Saudi monarchy have served or currently serve at the highest levels of U.S. government, public records show.

Those lucrative financial relationships call into question the ability of America's political elite to make tough foreign policy decisions about the kingdom that produced Osama bin Laden and is perhaps the biggest incubator for anti-Western Islamic terrorists.

Nowhere is the revolving U.S.-Saudi money wheel more evident than within President Bush's own coterie of foreign policy advisers, starting with the president's father, George H.W. Bush.

At the same time that the elder Bush counsels his son on the ongoing war on terrorism, the former president remains a senior adviser to the Washington D.C.-based Carlyle Group. That influential investment bank has deep connections to the Saudi royal family as well as financial interests in U.S. defense firms hired by the kingdom to equip and train the Saudi military.

[...]

The Carlyle Group has also served as a paid adviser to the Saudi monarchy on the so-called ``Economic Offset Program,'' an arrangement that effectively requires U.S. arms manufacturers selling weapons to Saudi Arabia to give back a portion of their revenues in the form of contracts to Saudi businesses, most of whom are connected to the royal family. A company spokesman said yesterday that arrangement was ended ``a few months ago,'' but said he did not know whether it was terminated before or after the Sept. 11 attacks.

[...]

These intricate personal and financial links have led to virtual silence in the administration on Saudi Arabia's failings in dealing with terrorists like bin Laden, said Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based government watchdog group.

``It's good old fashioned `I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine.' You have former U.S. officials, former presidents, aides to the current president, a long line of people who are tight with the Saudis, people who are the pillars of American society and officialdom,'' said Lewis.

``So for that and other reasons no one wants to alienate the Saudis, and we are willing to basically ignore inconvenient truths that might otherwise cause our blood to boil. We basically look away,'' he said. ``Folks don't like to stop the gravy train.''

[...]

Frank C. Carlucci, a former secretary of defense under President Reagan, was chairman of B.D.M. for most of the 1990s. Carlucci, who also served as Reagan's national security adviser and a deputy director of the CIA, now heads the Carlyle Group.

Along with former President Bush, other officials from past Republican administrations now at the Carlyle Group include: former Secretary of State James A. Baker III; ex-budget chief Richard Darman; and former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt.

President Bush is himself linked to the Carlyle group: He was a director of one of its subsidiaries, an airline food services company called Caterair, until 1994. Six years later, when Bush was governor of Texas, the board of directors of the Texas teachers' pension fund - some of whom were his appointees - voted to invest $100 million with the Carlyle Group.

The president of B.D.M. is Philip A. Odeen, a former high-level Pentagon official in the Nixon administration.

[...]

Another example of the complex web connecting U.S. and Saudi powerbrokers is Dick Cheney, who moved from the Pentagon to the international oil business and back as vice president last year.

After serving as the elder Bush's secretary of defense, Cheney was hired to run oil-services giant Halliburton Co., where he worked until he resigned last year to campaign with the younger Bush. In 2000, his last year with Halliburton, Cheney received $34 million when he cashed out from the company.

Not surprisingly, Halliburton's links to Cheney and other Washington power brokers appear to have helped the company's business prospects in the Middle East.

[...]

Cheney isn't the only member of President Bush's inner circle whose work for firms connected to the Saudis has paid big dividends.

The current national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, is a former longtime member of the board of directors of another giant oil conglomerate with business in the Saudi desert, Chevron, which merged with Texaco this year. Rice even has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

[...]

Former advisers to the president's father also hold key positions with U.S. firms which have teamed up with the Saudis on major oil deals.

Former Bush Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady and a former Bush assistant, Edith E. Holiday, are both on the board of directors of Amerada Hess, an American petroleum firm currently teaming up with several powerful Saudi families to develop oil fields in Azerbaijan.

[...]

Shining a bright light on the web of financial connections between the power elite in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is critical, Middle Eastern foreign policy experts said.

``I think the fact that they have these connections makes it important for this information to be made public,'' said Henry Siegman, a senior fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., a non-partisan group that examines money and politics, said the Bush-Carlyle connection is a concern.

link

[nonesuche]

oldie I don't believe either Edward or myself posted that Obama should be impeached.

I also don't need to rely on political writers and pundits for every thought or opinion I have, or to support my opinions.

Obama campaigned and won on a platform for change........or have you forgotten?

[nonesuche]

I am posting this only because I think this clearly republican analyst is more than fair in his appraisal of Obama's first trip across the pond........and also echoes the same question I have........is Obama respected?

fyi, not one mention either of the bowing........but if Americans choose to proclaim this first trip abroad as a total success then they need to dig into the weeds of this, such as highlighted below.

so many made simply surface assessments to elect Obama, now the meat and potatoes have emerged and Obama CHOSE this moment in time, he knew the challenges he would face. As a result, there are high expectations but then again, that is why being careful what and when you wish for it are control points we all should ponder deeply before pursuit of such enormous responsibilities.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/09/rollins.obama/index.html

Commentary: Obama's liked, but is he respected?

Editor's note: Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, was political director for President Ronald Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- President Obama has returned from his first trip abroad with praise ringing in his ears from the media elite and barely a word of protest from the Republican opposition.

It truly was an extraordinary introduction on the world stage for our celebrity president, and his only rival for attention was the first lady.

He is a true talent and performs with the best of them. You can like the man and disagree with his policies, but you're a fool if you underestimate him. The headlines said it all -- from California's Sacramento Bee: "President's overseas debut a love feast!" The Washington Post: "Obama portrays another side of the U.S." The Fort Wayne Journal: "Obama rallies troops in Baghdad."

But in spite of the rave reviews and talk of a brand new relationship with the world, it was also a week of reality. Great leaders are always looking at the past and learning from those who go before them. As William Shakespeare said: What is past is prologue.

The following quote, which could be written today, is from the past:

"The president continues to be highly regarded. By solid majorities of 65 percent or more, those surveyed said he has a vision for the country's future, has brought dignity back to the White House and is a strong leader willing to make hard decisions," reported a CNN/Gallup Poll.

The time was the end of 2003 and the president was the now despised-by-many George W. Bush after he visited Iraq at Thanksgiving for the first time.

So, the next time you hear the pundits chattering about the president's approval ratings on cable television, remember Bush's approval rating remained above 80 percent for nearly six months after 9/11 and above 70 percent for 10 months after that. He remained popular with a 63 percent approval rating at the time of the 2002 elections, helping Republicans to achieve rare congressional seat gains in a midterm election year.

As the second president to go stealthily into Iraq to praise our troops, President Obama warned our newest ally, the Iraqi government, that the ball was now in their court and that we are getting out of there on schedule.

I thought this was a wonderful way to end the trip as commander-in-chief, thanking our brave men and women who have given so much. But it did make me think of the immediate past president, who was equally praised on his first visit to Iraq. And on his last visit, an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at his head and was cheered on by his countrymen.

Even though President Obama spoke to the G-20 leaders as friends, addressed them more humbly then his predecessor and apologized for past perceived slights, the Europeans, especially France and Germany, weren't going to follow the United States in supporting an expanded stimulus program. They weren't going to follow us into Afghanistan, either, with their combat troops.

Even before the G-20 began, our new banker, China, expressed doubts about all its loans to us. Chinese officials stated, at a most inopportune time, that the world may need to find a new reserve currency rather than the U.S. dollar. We hope they will loan us the $100 billion we committed to the International Monetary Fund as a result of this meeting, money that we don't have and will have to borrow.

At almost the same time the president was advocating his vision of a world without nuclear arms and arguing that it is an achievable goal, reality came forth again. The North Koreans, who repeatedly dismissed as idle threats U.S. and U.N. warnings regarding their attempts at obtaining nuclear weapons and the systems to deliver them, on Saturday fired a rocket over Japan on its way to either space or Alaska.

Even though the alleged satellite didn't make it into orbit, the ripples it created went way beyond the Pacific Ocean where it crash-landed. Even our beloved governor of Alaska warned us that the North Koreans are coming, the North Koreans are coming.

The two old superpowers, China and Russia, wanted immediate sit-down summits later in the year to take the measure of the man. President Obama's reward for agreeing to the meetings was that both countries did everything possible to make sure the U.N. Security Council did nothing to condemn North Korea for its rocket blast. Beware of leaders calling you "comrade" on the first date.

The president's visit to Turkey, a key ally, was also historic. The first American president of color and Muslim heritage made great mileage with our important ally when he said:

"The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family or have lived in a Muslim-majority country. I know, because I am one of them." To the billion-plus Muslims in the world, those words had to be heartfelt and a welcome acknowledgement.

As an American, I am proud when our president does well overseas. Being humble worked much better than being cocky. But in order to lead, you must be tough. Being liked is important. Being respected will be the test. The president had a great opening round, but there are many more rounds to fight.

So welcome home, Mr. President. The financial mess is still here. Enjoy the Easter Egg roll on the South Lawn this weekend. And know that the decisions you make in the coming weeks and months will be all about those kids playing on your back lawn -- and every other child in America.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ed Rollins.

[oldiebutgoodie]

oldie I don't believe either Edward or myself posted that Obama should be impeached.

I also don't need to rely on political writers and pundits for every thought or opinion I have, or to support my opinions.

Obama campaigned and won on a platform for change........or have you forgotten?

And for even greater perspective...

Just in case you might have missed that part...   

[oldiebutgoodie]

...and for MORE perspective...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HXk0LFVAgHE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HXk0LFVAgHE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

[Edward]

Thank You... It is always amazing..

[crazybabyborg]

You have got to be kidding me. I defy any objecive person to watch the video of Bush "bowing" to King Abdullah and conclude he bowed to him.

1. The King was placing a medallion over the head of Pres. Bush and the President leaned forwad and lowered his head to assist him. Think how it would have looked had the President stood tall and held his head in place while the shorter king was trying to place that around his neck!

2. Bush did not GREET the King with that "bow".

3. Obama bowed in greeting.

Make as little or as much of it as you wish, but Obama and Bush did not do the same thing. I'd only add that it should be made clear that the posted picture of Bush kissing is not authentic but photoshopped.

[Edward]

[Edward]

Obama bowed like a loyal subject..
Like a son of a Saudi slave may do.
Such respect. So loyal


I do think the Bush photo was photo shopped.. OR.. TYhey should get a room.

[jjayinthemorning]

Obama will be invited back to Islam and if he doesn't accept he's a targeted apostate.

[Edward]

President Obama said Sunday he's not concerned with the politics of shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and is more interested in expanding a policy he described during his presidential campaign of extending an open hand to nations hostile to the U.S.

Obama received a book from the Venezuelan president on Saturday after greeting him on Friday evening during the weekend Summit of the Americas. Chavez told the Obama administration that he would like to send an ambassador to the U.S. in exchange for an ambassador in Venezuela. The U.S. suspended diplomatic ties last September.

U.S. officials responded that they need to see more from Chavez before moving forward but were pleased by the sentiment.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/19/obama-calls-americas-summit-productive-demands-follow/


Well.. This is ONE of the other guys..

1. He HUGO is a FARC member.. Proven when Colombia invaded a FARC camp and found computers with details of money transactions from Hugo to the FARC all the way back to the first days of his election..
2. Hugo is elected by using corrupted electronic vote-booth software " Smartmatic" and its software engineer a American is murdered in Caracas. This same software that was found to be corrupted has been used in various elections to get people Hugo wanted in power elected to office.. Included is Morales of Bolivia a cocaine producer and Ortega of Nicaragua. It was also used in the United States under another name "Sequoia" in Florida. I will let you do the research on that one. It was why Hugo could attack Bush with Bush never saying a word back to Hugo.
3. The FARC has provided ALL the big guns and ALL the big people and has created the now existent Mexican drug war. Which started when Calderon was elected to president in Mexico. Hugo was supporting Ubrador and Fox the existing president got wise to the planned use of electronic vote software and changed to a hand counted vote. Which pissed of Hugo.
4. Last but not least is the Huge immigration of Islam into Venezuela.. For instance Saudis own Margarita island by population. Hugo is a supporter of Ha-mas and Iran and other terrorist groups.

It all goes hand in hand with Obama.. He is not concerned for the politics.. I have studied Venezuelian politics since the day Natalee Disapeared and watched closely every detail ever since.. As far as I am concerned I have a different opinion then most Americans. I have posted all the news reports ever since at Refugees and BFN .. The situation is not good.
Obama is either ignorant or part of it.
jmho   

[nonesuche]

jjayinthemornin- I do believe you are correct, the expectations now from the Saudi's will accept no less.

Edward - the Obama agenda is clear now, with his embrace of Chavez, there can be no question regarding it.