Much has been written and debated about President Obama's habit of bowing to assorted princes, emperors, and other hereditary lottery winners.
(This is the same guy who gave Britain's leaders a DVD collection and an iPod. I'm generally against any tax increases, but I'd be willing to make an exception to buy Obama a new Protocol Droid.)
Here's a clip that clarifies the situation, relative to the habits of other leaders:
Here's veteran China watcher Martin Jacques, on "Why America Must Learn To Bow".
In fact, the opposite was the case. The defeat of the Soviet Union flattered only to deceive and mislead. In a world increasingly defined by the rise of the developing countries, most notably China, the United States was, in fact, in relative decline. It took the global financial crisis to begin to convince the U.S. that it could no longer take its global supremacy for granted. This dawning realisation has come desperately late in the day. Even now most of the country remains in denial. Never has a great power been less prepared or equipped to face its own decline.
Let's rephrase that last sentence. "Never has a great power done so much to encourage, prepare, and hasten its own decline." People who repeatedly hit themselves in the head with hammers shouldn't seem surprised by the results.
Fortunately, in Barack Obama the nation has a president that possesses a rare characteristic for that office, humility.
Humility? Barack Obama is humble? (Make a selection from the assortment of links.) Never mind. Let's don't run that rabbit today....
He has made it clear from the outset that the U.S. cannot run the world on its own but only in co-operation with others.
Do ya think that the world just might be a better place if so many Messianic Bastards didn't think they could actually run it ?
In Beijing he welcomed China’s rise as a positive and sought a relationship of partnership with it. But as with the U.S. financial crisis, Obama is making it up as he goes along. Like the rest of the ruling elite, he finds himself ambushed by American decline, a situation that his administration was entirely unprepared for. Those who criticized his performance in Beijing as being too weak are not even at the starting line: They refuse to face up to the reality of a fundamental shift in the balance of power with China.
And why do we have a fundamental shift in the balance of power with China? And Brazil? Ecuador? Russia? Libya? Yeah, freakin' Libya? Why did Enzo the Baker have a shift in his balance of power with Marlon Brando in The Godfather?
BECAUSE HE OWED HIM ! ! ! It really is that simple. We're paying for Reagan's "Morning In America" and Bush The Elder's "A Thousand Points Of Blight" and Clinton's "Bridge To The 19th Century" and Bush's "No Child Gets Ahead" and Obama's "Hope And Small Change" with borrowed money. We simply must stop.
Our system was set up to allow for maximum liberty and freedom. It doesn't work well as a socialized hog trough. Agreed: we obviously don't have enough protections and regulations in place to protect us from Messianic leadership or the Statist mindset. If we're going to allow trainloads of messiahs, tycoons, wall-streeters, bailout seekers, economic witch doctors, and scam artists to line up at the bar for drinks on your credit card, then, yes, we need more regulation.
One regulation. We can't spend any more money.
Even Saturday Night Live has figured it out. This is brilliant. If SNL can figure it out, can Congress be far behind?
Here's a picture of Enzo The Baker, bowing to The Godfather. Unless something changes, future U.S. presidents should prepare to do the same.
(This is the same guy who gave Britain's leaders a DVD collection and an iPod. I'm generally against any tax increases, but I'd be willing to make an exception to buy Obama a new Protocol Droid.)
Here's a clip that clarifies the situation, relative to the habits of other leaders:
Here's veteran China watcher Martin Jacques, on "Why America Must Learn To Bow".
In fact, the opposite was the case. The defeat of the Soviet Union flattered only to deceive and mislead. In a world increasingly defined by the rise of the developing countries, most notably China, the United States was, in fact, in relative decline. It took the global financial crisis to begin to convince the U.S. that it could no longer take its global supremacy for granted. This dawning realisation has come desperately late in the day. Even now most of the country remains in denial. Never has a great power been less prepared or equipped to face its own decline.
Let's rephrase that last sentence. "Never has a great power done so much to encourage, prepare, and hasten its own decline." People who repeatedly hit themselves in the head with hammers shouldn't seem surprised by the results.
Fortunately, in Barack Obama the nation has a president that possesses a rare characteristic for that office, humility.
Humility? Barack Obama is humble? (Make a selection from the assortment of links.) Never mind. Let's don't run that rabbit today....
He has made it clear from the outset that the U.S. cannot run the world on its own but only in co-operation with others.
Do ya think that the world just might be a better place if so many Messianic Bastards didn't think they could actually run it ?
In Beijing he welcomed China’s rise as a positive and sought a relationship of partnership with it. But as with the U.S. financial crisis, Obama is making it up as he goes along. Like the rest of the ruling elite, he finds himself ambushed by American decline, a situation that his administration was entirely unprepared for. Those who criticized his performance in Beijing as being too weak are not even at the starting line: They refuse to face up to the reality of a fundamental shift in the balance of power with China.
And why do we have a fundamental shift in the balance of power with China? And Brazil? Ecuador? Russia? Libya? Yeah, freakin' Libya? Why did Enzo the Baker have a shift in his balance of power with Marlon Brando in The Godfather?
BECAUSE HE OWED HIM ! ! ! It really is that simple. We're paying for Reagan's "Morning In America" and Bush The Elder's "A Thousand Points Of Blight" and Clinton's "Bridge To The 19th Century" and Bush's "No Child Gets Ahead" and Obama's "Hope And Small Change" with borrowed money. We simply must stop.
Our system was set up to allow for maximum liberty and freedom. It doesn't work well as a socialized hog trough. Agreed: we obviously don't have enough protections and regulations in place to protect us from Messianic leadership or the Statist mindset. If we're going to allow trainloads of messiahs, tycoons, wall-streeters, bailout seekers, economic witch doctors, and scam artists to line up at the bar for drinks on your credit card, then, yes, we need more regulation.
One regulation. We can't spend any more money.
Even Saturday Night Live has figured it out. This is brilliant. If SNL can figure it out, can Congress be far behind?
Here's a picture of Enzo The Baker, bowing to The Godfather. Unless something changes, future U.S. presidents should prepare to do the same.
4 comments:
I spent the better part of 1994 living in South Korea, so I haven't gotten too incensed over the whole bowing thing. In fact, I realized that I had been there entirely too long when I caught myself bowing to other white people I happened to pass on the street.
That being said, I would like to offer a point of bowing etiquette for President Obama. When bowing that deeply to a Japanese person, the next step usually involves cutting off one's own pinkie.
Just something to keep in mind...
....followed by a vow to redouble one's efforts to make good on the debt owed.
There's no way this administration is going to end well. The man's never even had to manage a Taco Bell night shift.
Hey -- I know a place where the bow will be appropriate! It's the Nobel Prize ceremony next month! I'm reading this quite fun book on the impact of winning the Nobel on a family (It's called Reindeer With King Gustaf and is by Anita Laughlin, whose husband Bob won the prize and drew the cartoons that are in the book). She describes all the preparations that go into receiving the darn thing, and says that the "proper" Nobel bow takes some practice. Not only is there protocol for the bow, the person also has to hold some stuff and -- even worse for someone a bit balance and timing challenged like myself -- it's set to music.
Somehow, with all his recent practice, I bet Obama can maybe get this right ... On the other hand, the book is great fun.
Who cares if he bowed. President Dwight D. Eisenhower bowed to Charles de Gaulle (France) and President Richard Milhous Nixon bowed to Emperor Hirohito (Japan) but don’t let the facts get in the way, believe the lies you want but the facts stay constant.
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