[luke warm]

i'm really not interested in the accusations on the right and defenses on the left, i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc... we know at least one arab commentator votes 'yes'

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

"Obama wished to demonstrate his respect and appreciation of the personality of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has made one of the most important calls in the modern era, namely the call for inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars," wrote the columnist, Muhammah Diyab."

[TimG]

Looked like a bow to me.

[helene_t]

Yes.

[hrothgar]

Could have been a bow
Could have been bending over to shake hands
Could have been kissing the king's ring
Could have been any number of things

Whatever it was does matter much in th grand scheme of things

What this clearly is is yet example where Jimmy is mindlessly parroting the right talking points d'jour...

[Lobowolf]

LOL Wow, I heard this story on the radio, and when I heard the White House version, I just figured he did some ambiguous head nod. How on earth can anyone take the "no" on that with a straight face?! I mean, unless a press release that he wears contacts and dropped one is about to come out.

I have no problem with his bowing, btw; it's easily attributable to a new president, a slew of rules and traditions pertaining to protocol, and a desire to show respect and foster international relations. WTP?

Seriously, though, what the hell else would it have been? The spin is worse than the bow.
I love that I heard that it was a "gesture to show respect." Ummmm... well... isn't there a word for inclinations of the head or body to show respect? Oh yeah... bow.

[Lobowolf]

hrothgar, on Apr 9 2009, 05:42 PM, said:

Could have been a bow
Could have been bending over to shake hands
Could have been kissing the king's ring
Could have been any number of things

Whatever it was does matter much in th grand scheme of things

What this clearly is is yet example where Jimmy is mindlessly parroting the right talking points d'jour...

Denying the bow is mindlessly parroting the left talking points d'jour. Or at least the White House's talking points. So he bowed...what's the problem?

[hrothgar]

Lobowolf, on Apr 10 2009, 01:52 AM, said:

hrothgar, on Apr 9 2009, 05:42 PM, said:

Could have been a bow
Could have been bending over to shake hands
Could have been kissing the king's ring
Could have been any number of things

Whatever it was does matter much in th grand scheme of things

What this clearly is is yet example where Jimmy is mindlessly parroting the right talking points d'jour...

Denying the bow is mindlessly parroting the left talking points d'jour. Or at least the White House's talking points. So he bowed...what's the problem?

Learn to read...

I did not deny that the bow happened.
If you look at the video, its very clear that Obama bent from the waist.

I stated (fairly directly) that I have no way of knowing why Obama did so...

This could have been a bow
This could have been part of any number of things
I certainly can't say for certainty what happened
Doubt that anyone else here can either...

Moreover, even if Obama did bow, I really don't give a damn.
Personally, I think the right's fixation of these sorts of trivialities is much more telling...

[Rain]

A nice guy showing sub-conscious respect to a fellow powerful man? I think it's obvious he bowed, and that if everyone were standing, he would have used a nice firm handshake instead.

This wouldn't be a big deal if he had a different cultural upbringing. I had to bow to teachers in school before/after class to greet them, or if I passed them in the school. I don't think that indicated anything other than a gesture of respect?

If Obama had been exposed to such cultural influences (and it seemed like he kinda did, with a childhood in Indonesia, etc), then this isn't that unnatural.

[Lobowolf]

Rain, on Apr 9 2009, 06:25 PM, said:

I think it's obvious he bowed, and that if everyone were standing, he would have used a nice firm handshake instead.

I guess it's like playing "Gerber when obvious" -- What's obvious to some isn't obvious to others.

[jdonn]

luke warm, on Apr 9 2009, 05:08 PM, said:

i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc...

I'm genuinely curious as to why you are wondering.

[Lobowolf]

jdonn, on Apr 9 2009, 06:26 PM, said:

luke warm, on Apr 9 2009, 05:08 PM, said:

i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc...

I'm genuinely curious as to why you are wondering.

As a litmus test question, I think it would be right up there with the Noah's Ark thread. Maybe we could do a poll. It would actually do BETTER, because nobody alive today was around to the alleged ark.

[JoAnneM]

If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again.

[jdonn]

Lobowolf, on Apr 9 2009, 06:36 PM, said:

jdonn, on Apr 9 2009, 06:26 PM, said:

luke warm, on Apr 9 2009, 05:08 PM, said:

i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc...

I'm genuinely curious as to why you are wondering.

As a litmus test question, I think it would be right up there with the Noah's Ark thread. Maybe we could do a poll. It would actually do BETTER, because nobody alive today was around to the alleged ark.

I'm trying not to speculate. I note with regards to the Noah's ark question, Richard was very forthcoming about why he was posting.

[Hanoi5]

He just dropped a contact lense, c'mon!

[TimG]

hrothgar, on Apr 9 2009, 06:10 PM, said:

If you look at the video, its very clear that Obama bent from the waist.

I stated (fairly directly) that I have no way of knowing why Obama did so...

This could have been a bow
This could have been part of any number of things
I certainly can't say for certainty what happened
Doubt that anyone else here can either...

One of his aides can:

Quote

An Obama aide speaking anonymously denied that the president was bowing.

“It wasn’t a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he’s taller than King Abdullah,” the aide was quoted as saying by Politco.com Wednesday.

If you view the video, you will see that he clearly grasped with one hand, bent at the waist, straightened, then grasped with two hands.

I don't care whether he bowed or not. But, I am disappointed that an aide would try to put a spin on it by clearly mis-describing what happened.

[helene_t]

JoAnneM, on Apr 10 2009, 12:48 AM, said:

If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again.

Why the f.... would anyone be polite to an arrogant bastard like Richard or a brain-dead parrot like Jimmy?

The purpose of the water cooler is to absorb all the hostile bs that would otherwise contaminate the bridge forums.

[kenberg]

Seems like a bow, at least of sorts. I would say that a bow in a social setting where others are hugging and patting on backs, generally acting like a bunch of good old boys at a barbecue, is not the same as a deferential bow in a formal setting.

The Obamas might work on their stage presence bit. I didn't care much for Michelle Obama hugging the Queen. It's one thing to not bow to her, it's another thing to assume a right to physical contact.

But I don't guess it all matters that much. Michelle Obama wore a sleeveless dress at the Inauguration, shocking everyone, Barack Obama wore a white shirt and tie addressing young people (I learned of this faux pas from another thread), and so on. Certainly it is far more important to worry about what he means by a strong and united response to North Korean rocket launching.

But yes, it was a bow. And I agree with Lobo that staffers saying otherwise makes them and the President look a little silly.

[luke warm]

helene_t, on Apr 10 2009, 06:07 AM, said:

JoAnneM, on Apr 10 2009, 12:48 AM, said:

If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread?  I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again.

Why the f.... would anyone be polite to an arrogant bastard like Richard or a brain-dead parrot like Jimmy?

The purpose of the water cooler is to absorb all the hostile bs that would otherwise contaminate the bridge forums.

my point exactly... ty helene... as for josh, the question seems to be answered in r/l by which side of the political spectrum one is on, i wanted to know if that trend held... so far i'd say not so much, except for a couple of obvious exceptions

[jdonn]

Fair enough. I think as long as someone doesn't particularly care what the answer is, then what they think it is doesn't matter to me. Personally I can't watch the clip at work so I haven't seen it.

[JoAnneM]

helene_t, on Apr 10 2009, 11:07 AM, said:

JoAnneM, on Apr 10 2009, 12:48 AM, said:

If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread?  I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again.

Why the f.... would anyone be polite to an arrogant bastard like Richard or a brain-dead parrot like Jimmy?

The purpose of the water cooler is to absorb all the hostile bs that would otherwise contaminate the bridge forums.

" If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? "

This was my question to the poster.

"I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again."

This was my opinion about the bow, and obviously I was correct.