The blogosphere is aflame with latest Obama bow, in this instance to “President” Hu Jintau of China.
We think people might be missing the real disappointment these bows represent, and are instead caught up in the horror of the image of the President of the United States bowing to anyone. That reaction is understandable if you consider one of America’s founding paradigms to have been that we bow before no King (or dictator) be it symbolically through taxes or jizyah, let alone literally.
That aside, the real disappointment about the Obama bow is what it says about the American people, who elected a stranger – and the media outlets who for fear of losing candidate access and campaign commercial ad buys never brought to light the details of Barack Obama’s past – or the political machine that raised him.
It doesn’t matter that Barack Obama bows. People can feel free to bow if that is how they feel comfortable expressing a greeting to people.
It does matter that the President of the United States bows, because he represents the nation, and thus it carries significant symbolic consequences.
We can’t help but think that if the American media had done its job, and/or the American public wasn’t willing to elevate a person they hardly knew to Commander-In-Chief, we wouldn’t be in this bowing mess to begin with.
File under “You get the government genuflector you deserve”