Has President Obama learned a lesson from the derision in the
American press, after he was seen to bow to a king, a queen and an emperor in
2009? According to Le Figaro writer Véronique Saint-Geours, if such an occasion
arises again, it isn't likely to be conducted before the cameras.
His
plunging at the foot of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2009 and the Emperor
of Japan that same year earned him severe criticism from journalists in his
country, who wanted allegiance shown to their president - still master of the world
- before an “oil king” or emperor of a nation defeated in World War II. Astutely,
this year, journalists discovered King Abdullah of Jordan and the 44th
President sitting in the Oval Office. And what happened before they walked in?
We
won't see such greetings again. At the G20 summit in London last year, his
apparent reverence before the Saudi king, which had been criticized in America,
was a topic requiring a laborious explanation from presidential spokesman Robert
Gibbs, which consisted of revealing that the king was shorter than the 44th American
president, who, it followed, was much taller than the king. All of which was preamble
for this brief explanation: in order to shake the hands of Abdullah, Obama was
obliged to lean down slightly. The video [see below], however, revealed in his
posture a deeper bend than simply a lean.
It
was even perceived by Americans as an affront when protocol called for the U.S.
president to perform a bow before the latest incarnation of the defeated Rising
Sun [Japan]. There, the explanation was more diplomatic, along the lines of it
being a “sign of respect.”
Then
and there, the 44th president must have sworn not to allow himself to be stung
by photographers again. The question of the proper posture for their president
isn't new. We recall the contemptuous outcry when in 2005, W. Bush was
photographed hand-in-hand with the Saudi King, as though he were a delighted
bridegroom.
But
with regard to what the two heads of state, Abdullah of Jordan and the 44th U.S. president,
said to one another after journalists were permitted to enter after their
seated equality had been firmly established?: friendship between the two
countries, a united fight against extremism and terrorism, dissuading Iran from
building nuclear weapons and further advancing the peace in the Middle East.
Is this original? No.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
And
then the king commented on the very positive image of Obama throughout the
world and entreated him not to take this for mere flattery. The press saw two
equal heads of state.
A
piece of advice: above all, don't permit journalists in before the stylized
greetings are over and the two parties are seated!
