How Now Will Obama Bow?
Will the president show as much respect for the Dalai Lama as he did for the emperor of Japan?
by James W. Ceaser
11/17/2009 10:00:00 AM


How low can you go? This is the question confronting the nation in the aftermath of President Obama's deep bow to the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko last Saturday.

In contrast to the greeting the president accorded to the King of Saudi Arabia in April, where spooked White House officials dismissed what looked like a full gesture of obeisance as a mere exercise in height adjustment, this time there was no ambiguity. The President executed a clear, full-scale, and unmistakable bow. It was the most transparent act of his presidency--ample, sweeping, and bounteous. Yet contrary to what some malicious bloggers alleged, it was not, by Japanese standards, excessive. For a Japanese person visiting the Emperor, who is the symbol of the state and the highest authority of the Shinto religion, President Obama's dip, for a man his height, was appropriate according to local custom. His only flaw, commented on by Japanese observers, was to have extended simultaneously his hand. The norm is that one must choose: there is no shaking and bowing at the same time, however athletic such a maneuver might appear.

Though largely correct in form, the president's act poses some thorny problems for the future. Just how does one decide when and to whom a president should bow? If the president follows local custom in some cases but not others, will not some feel that they have been gratuitously insulted? What must King Abdullah be thinking this week of the (half) bow (half) disavowed that he received, compared to the full monty extended to emperor? Is the House of Saud inferior to the Japanese imperial family, or Islam less honorable than Shinto? And then there is the queen of England, no insignificant figure, who is not only head of state (and of the Commonwealth), but also a spiritual figure in her own right, as leader of the Church of England. Yet Her Majesty did not merit so much as a presidential curtsy, while Michelle touched her on the back. Does a president in this day and age bow to non-Westerners, but not to a white Christian woman? Whatever the queen's humiliation may have been, one can rest assured she will bear it, in good British fashion, with a stiff upper lip. Besides, she has her presidential ipod, filled with Broadway show tunes, to console her.

It has been widely claimed, although with no confirmation yet by students of the presidency, that Barack Obama is the first American president to have thus lowered himself to a foreign leader. The idea has at least the ring of plausibility. Bowing to a monarch would seem to violate the spirit of the Revolution, which wasn't wildly favorable to displays of rank, as well as to run counter to our proclaimed self-evident truth of all persons being created equality. But then again, this may be just one of our local customs. President Obama has nuanced our notions of universal truths as instances of America's assertions of exceptionalism, when, as he reminds us, "Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." When truth is made relative all that remains is the authority of custom.

Another possibility, less theoretical, is that the president has taken to bowing, because he is still a novice in foreign affairs. Either he does not travel with a protocol officer--the State Department does not seem to count for much in this administration--or, what is more worrisome, he is too confident in his own intelligence to be instructed. His first instinct when dealing with those whom intellectuals deem the "other" has been repeatedly to go the extra mile to display his signs of respect. But what is appropriate for the son of an anthropologist might be wanting for the dignity of "America's first Pacific President."

Of course, change can only go so far. President Obama, like other presidents before him, has already had to take into account certain practical considerations. Before beginning his trip to Asia, the president very unceremoniously refused a meeting with the Dalai Lama, bowing preemptively to the tender feelings of the Chinese. The meeting will be rescheduled. Of necessity, the current Dalai Lama, who has been dispossessed of his country and lives in exile, has had to relax traditional expectations. In good democratic fashion, he is regularly seen shaking hands with foreign dignitaries or, as he seems to prefer, simply folding hands in a prayer-type greeting. Yet by local custom, the Dalai Lama is typically greeted by Tibetans with a deep bow, or, in a more formal setting, such as at his residence in Dharamsala or in the context of a public ritual, with three or more full prostrations to him. For our young prince, another self-inflicted dilemma may soon be in the offing: To bow or not to bow, that is the question.

James W. Ceaser is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of politics at the University of Virginia.

Nixon bowed to the emperors of Japan and even addressed them as Imperial Majesties..... Obama is showing a 'kinder gentler America', however will not walk holding hands with the King of Saudi Arabia, which is quite less tolerable and unexplainable for a Westerner.....for e.g. what the hell is going on inside dubya's head when he is walking holding another grown mans hand?? hahha!

Besides, if you look at the bow, he does not hold his arms to his side which is the 'proper' way to bow.

As for the Dalai Lama, he will him show him the respect he deserves.

Japan expert to ABC: Yes, Obama’s bow made him look like an idiot
posted at 7:45 pm on November 15, 2009

So much of an idiot, in fact, that according to Tapper’s source, at least one Japanese paper isn’t running the photo out of embarrassment. This tool actually groveled himself into a minor international incident.

The good news for O-bots? It wasn’t unprecedented. Nixon evidently made a modest bow to Hirohito in the early 70s. The bad news?

“Obama’s handshake/forward lurch was so jarring and inappropriate it recalls Bush’s back-rub of Merkel.

“Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.

“The bow as he performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms….The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.

A senior White House official (read: Axelrod or Emanuel) assured Politico this morning that no Japanese observers “would say anything other than that he enhanced both the position and the status of the U.S., relative to Japan.” Consider that spin exploded, thanks to ABC.

And yet, having said that, I’m not convinced that the “groveling” explanation for the bow is necessarily the correct one. For one thing, his protocol office is famously run by imbeciles. They may very well have simply given him bum advice: “Be sure to hunch way the hell over and stare at the ground. They all do it that way.” For another thing, and somewhat notably, Japan isn’t a stop on The One’s world apology tour. It could have been, but he declined the opportunity to turn it into one. So why give the emperor the full Hopenchange treatment, then? Is it just … reflex at this point? Or is it actually a sign of how keenly aware Obama is of the messianic hype that follows him around the world? Maybe he figured that, as the newly anointed global Jesus, he’d better go out of his way to show deference to Japan’s divine ruler lest it seem like he was “pulling rank.” Think of it as “Superman II,” if the main characters had landed on Earth convinced that they had to “rebuild Krypton’s relationships” with the universe. In that case, you don’t kneel before Zod; Zod kneels before you.