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April 09, 2009

The Bow

Everyone's talking about President Obama's bow to Saudi Arabian King Abdullah. It was unsettling to me at first when I saw the photos and video of the bow because a bow to a member of the royalty is a gesture that is entirely antithetical to the very foundations of this country. But actually, I was even more troubled when I read that the White House was denying it happened, claiming it was more of a stooping because the President is taller than the King. I am no fan of lying. It clearly was a bow.

I can see why the wingnuts are up in arms about this. They still think we have elected a Manchurian Candidate - a closet Muslim terrorist sympathizer. So their first thought upon seeing him bow to the Saudi King is that he was paying obiescence. Not only is that a break from protocol for a U.S. President, if it was as they see it, it would be pretty darned humiliating for the country. Kind of like the way President Bush used to greet the King:

See, I really can understand the reaction to this bow, because in the light of my preconceptions about the possibility that 9/11 wasn't what we were told it was, seeing President Bush running around kissing and holding hands with Saudi royalty was anything but comforting. Male lip-kissing in our culture has an entirely different meaning than it has in Saudi culture. Kind of like bowing.

It is enlightening, in my opinion, to see how the bow was portrayed in the Arab press:

Muhammah Diyab, a columnist for an Arabic paper called Asharq Alawsat expressed approval of President Obama's apparent gesture of deference:"Obama wished to demonstrate his respect and appreciation of the personality of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has made one of the most important calls in the modern era, namely the call for interfaith and intercultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars".

If the bow was not meant as a sign of subservience, but rather as a sign of respect and desire to build a more peaceful relationship with the Arab world, the White House should say so. Denying the bow occurred when it clearly did occur is an admission that the White House fears Americans are incapable of grasping the message. But I am not sure the bow was planned. It looks to me like someone got nervous about a slip-up in protocol and shot their mouth off to the press without thinking. Had they taken a few minutes to think it through, they could have acknowledged the bow and taken credit for the President's having issued a culturally-appropriate gesture of goodwill and gratitude for efforts to smooth relations between the Muslim world and the West.

The ultimate danger here, unfortunately, is that by taking a step toward defusing the hatred between America and the Arab world, Obama will simultaneously be fueling the hatred between Right and Left here at home. The tightrope he is walking is a very dangerous one. His handling of this situation is not helping.

Posted by Becky at April 9, 2009 08:50 AM