The Obama Bow : A Different Take

You saw the video clip last week didn’t you?

Our president exchanged his waist for a hinge, and dropped his torso forward ninety degrees just as he was about to meet Saudi Arabian royalty.

I first thought that perhaps Mr. Obama had lost his wedding ring at a most inopportune moment, and was bending down to retrieve it.

In subsequent viewings, however, I realized that the man was without question bowing in deference to a king whose responsibilities include being “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.”

Soon thereafter the Obama Press Secretary - Robert Gibbs - gave a too-tight-underwear “No” when asked if it was a bow; the White House press corps laughed.

You would have thought that the State Department coaches would have drilled into the jejune Mr. Obama the one thing not to do: bow.

Yet he couldn’t help himself.

Why not?

Well, for one simple reason: His early life was spent in a religious - Muslim - environment in Indonesia.

You can easily picture little Barack standing straight, yet being indoctrinated to bend over to meet the revered local imam. And that is not to single out Islam either; respectful behavior is ingrained in any kid who grows up with religion, whether it is with a priest, reverend, or rabbi as a mentor.

The BHO machine has from the beginning of his presidential campaign evaded, avoided, and minimized these formative years under Islamic tutelage.

What’s to run away from?

It’s not like he was being trained as a juvenile suicide bomber. And the man’s middle name is “Hussein”, after all.

Why can’t he simply be proud of who he is?

Well, that’s too complicated a question to address in this short piece.

But I offer - free of charge - a ready-made explanation for our president’s handlers should he repeat his deferential behavior: The man simply doesn’t believe in shaking hands.

That’s right.

And in taking that stance he would have formidable company, both present and past: The Donald, and George Washington, respectively.

A couple of years ago there was someone on the radio that sounded exactly like Trump. He had a promotional radio spot that was called “And that’s the real deal.” He’d opine on various subjects he was passionate about. One of them - and this is the truth - had our man expressing his preference for bowing instead of shaking a man’s hand.

I wrote an article about it at the time. (*)

It turns out that the father of our country had a similar distaste for pressing the flesh. This predilection is described by historian Paul Johnson in his book, George Washington Founding Father, as follows:

“Washington did not like shaking hands, which he regarded as an urban vulgarism, the act of a ‘citizen,’ a word just creeping in from Paris. He never thought of himself as a citizen. When greeting you he bowed, and a Washington bow was worth having, a gesture of deliberative elegance.”

So, Mr. President, if you repeat your deferential gesture, you are welcomed to steal and use my explanation.

I think that anything that smacks of “deliberative elegance” would be right up your alley.

[EdNote*: Read all about someone very much like The Donald: Gotta Hand It To Him]

[EdNote: A big THANKS for the image - through Google Image - goes to DogTrak]

Send this article to a friend!

Copyright 2010.  All Rights Reserved