04/04/2009 (9:53 am)
What Does It Say to the World? (Updated)
I didn’t say anything when it happened, but it’s part of a growing concern about exactly who the President is… and this, from someone who feels he did his homework in advance of the election. I freely admit, there seems to be more — or perhaps less — to President Obama than any of us suspected.
From Hot Air, with a hat tip to The Anchoress: A Tale of Two Bows.
Where are the Progressives, I wonder, who shrieked so loudly about the 19 Saudis among the 9/11 attackers? Surely they’re now recognizing that President Obama was a participant along with the Bush Crime Family in the great conspiracy to attack America, right?
Ok, that was snarky. But now I have to say this: I paid zero attention to the “Obama is a Muslim” talk that flew around the Internet during the campaign season. I saw reasons to associate him with black separatists, with corrupt Chicago politicians, with campus radicals, with Saul Alinsky and other activists… but the few years he spent in a mixed-religion elementary school registered as the son of a Muslim did not strike me as indicating anything worth our concern.
I am no longer ignoring that. The bow to the Saudi monarch inevitably raises the question: what was he doing, and why? We now need an answer, and it’s the President, himself, who has opened this line of inquiry.
By the way, in case you haven’t seen it, Chris Muir, who draws the Day-By-Day cartoon that appears on my sidebar, produced a graphic for Hot Air to commemorate Amateur Moments from the “Less Than” President. I love it. Here it is:
Heh.
We are SO screwed…
UPDATE: My friend Neil Mammen (http://www.noblindfaith.com) who was raised in the Middle East — in the Sudan and Yemen Lebanon, if I’m not mistaken (I was mistaken) — wonders out loud why President Obama is bowing like a serf to King Abdulla. He says the gesture means that the US is supplicant to Saudi Arabia, that the US is afraid of Saudi Arabia, and that negotiating anything with the Saudis is out of the question since the Saudis hold all the power.
Neil explains that in the Middle East, whenever two leaders meet, convention requires them to treat each other as equals (unless one is already subservient to the other.) Leaders from around the Middle East will watch the interaction between them looking for signs indicating who is subservient to whom. They will judge which is the weaker based on what they see.
The short version seems to be that the President Obama has just signaled to the entire Middle East that the US is weak and subservient to Saudi Arabia.
Thought you might like to know.
By the way, if you visit Neil’s site, those fine-looking women modeling his “No Blind Faith” T-shirts are his family. I mention this just in case you get to wondering why a low-budget Christian apologetics organization is hiring hot models to display their gear. It threw me the first time I went there.
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5 Comments »
Comment by King Tiger
I started calling President Obama our “8th grade class president” a few weeks ago. I have yet to see any evidence that he is any more mature in his foreign policy outlook than the average middle schooler.
Comment by turfmann
Phil,
This is off topic as it pertains to the fascist/tougher conservatives posts you made that are now “below the fold” but may I direct your attention to the following:
http://neoneocon.com/2009/04/03/obama-and-the-disturbing-influence-of-frank-marshall-davis/
I would imagine that you are already familiar with the Davis/Obama connection but as I read the comments, especially the ones involving someone that goes by the name of Kaleokualoha, the hair on the back of my neck began to stand on end.
Comment by Tom
Obama’s bow is mere artifice, i.e., a type of false humility, to gain favor from a dynastic ruling family. Nothing more.
In a way, it is quite funny because it is mockery in the truest sense: Obama is his lord and master in the netherworld. It is a like a king bowing before a serf.
Comment by Tom
Because Obama is in the beginning phase of his acension to power, he is using charm and perceived weakness to win over provincial leaders, i.e., Europe, Middle East, etc.
It’ll be interesting when he starts playing them off against each other, and as their “new” friend, in the middle, will be able to subsume more and more power.
Comment by Phil
What evidence do you have that suggests that Obama understands what he’s doing at that level, and will be able to carry out plots against them in this manner?
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