The worst part is that Obama clearly knows better. Indeed, he has an entire State Department regime to brief him on customs, habits, and social graces, and to choreograph every moment of these meetings with foreign dignitaries. Once might be an honest screw up, but twice? Three times? C'mon....
Here's a great post by Sean Linnane over at the Frum Forum blog (reproduced virtually in its entirety):
I spent more than half my life in the Orient. A common theme is the person of lower rank bows lower; how low he or she goes depends on the relative rank of the other person.
There is a whole dynamic going on with Obama’s bow--the President of the United States is equal (if not superior) to the Emperor of Japan. If Obama wanted to execute a courtesy bow, a slight bend forward at the waist followed by a slight nod of the head while maintaining eye contact would have been appropriate.
Westerners are not accustomed to bowing, and we are generally ignorant of the nuances of this custom. [But] [t]here is a right way and a wrong way to do it. What Obama did has the Japanese (and the rest of East Asia) rolling in fits of laughter, because it is the bow an employee gives to his boss, or a child gives to parents. He went WAY too low; it is only one step above a kow-tow.
Compare Obama’s bow with how he conducted himself in the company of the Queen of England, and then contrast this with the way he leaned forward to bow and scrape before the King of Saudi Arabia; this certainly leaves a lot of room to wonder about which direction this man’s sentiments lie.
I am an American. The only King I bow and pay homage to is Elvis.
