Obama: Suffering from “Mad Bows Disease”
President Obama’s deep bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito on Saturday may not have violated any official protocol, but critics of the presidential act of deference nevertheless say he’s guilty of bad form.
The incident followed Obama’s dip to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in April, which the White House said was not a bow despite the criticism that followed.
But in Japan, the White House could not argue with a photograph that showed him bent at a nearly 90-degree angle while shaking the hand of the emperor, as Empress Michiko smiled faintly next to him.
Instead of denying the gesture, an administration official defended it, telling Politico.com that Obama “observes protocol” and that the greeting “enhanced both the position and the status of the U.S. relative to Japan” — where a bow is just another version of a handshake.
But ‘protocol?’
Pamela Eyring, the president of The Protocol School of Washington, said that while there’s no “hard-and-fast” rule, a bow is not appropriate when national leaders meet.
“They’re peers. … Unfortunately, it isn’t correct for a chief of state to bow to another chief of state,” she told FoxNews.com. “It’s not appropriate. He should not be bowing to other chiefs of state.”
She said Obama was clearly trying to show respect, but that the royal couple would not expect such a gesture from a Western leader. Eyring, who reviewed the video of the encounter, said they seemed a “bit uncomfortable” watching Obama bow.
“When you’re representing the United States of America, everything speaks … on behalf of our country,” Eyring said. “It’s a visual. It shows more of a subservient loo
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