luke warm Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 i'm really not interested in the accusations on the right and defenses on the left, i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc... we know at least one arab commentator votes 'yes' "Interestingly, a columnist in the Saudi-backed Arabic paper Asharq Alawsat also took the gesture as a bow and appreciated the move. "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 inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars," wrote the columnist, Muhammah Diyab." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimG Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Looked like a bow to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrothgar Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Could have been a bowCould have been bending over to shake handsCould have been kissing the king's ringCould have been any number of things Whatever it was does matter much in th grand scheme of things What this clearly is is yet example where Jimmy is mindlessly parroting the right talking points d'jour... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobowolf Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 LOL Wow, I heard this story on the radio, and when I heard the White House version, I just figured he did some ambiguous head nod. How on earth can anyone take the "no" on that with a straight face?! I mean, unless a press release that he wears contacts and dropped one is about to come out. I have no problem with his bowing, btw; it's easily attributable to a new president, a slew of rules and traditions pertaining to protocol, and a desire to show respect and foster international relations. WTP? Seriously, though, what the hell else would it have been? The spin is worse than the bow. I love that I heard that it was a "gesture to show respect." Ummmm... well... isn't there a word for inclinations of the head or body to show respect? Oh yeah... bow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobowolf Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Could have been a bowCould have been bending over to shake handsCould have been kissing the king's ringCould have been any number of things Whatever it was does matter much in th grand scheme of things What this clearly is is yet example where Jimmy is mindlessly parroting the right talking points d'jour... Denying the bow is mindlessly parroting the left talking points d'jour. Or at least the White House's talking points. So he bowed...what's the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrothgar Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Could have been a bowCould have been bending over to shake handsCould have been kissing the king's ringCould have been any number of things Whatever it was does matter much in th grand scheme of things What this clearly is is yet example where Jimmy is mindlessly parroting the right talking points d'jour... Denying the bow is mindlessly parroting the left talking points d'jour. Or at least the White House's talking points. So he bowed...what's the problem? Learn to read... I did not deny that the bow happened.If you look at the video, its very clear that Obama bent from the waist. I stated (fairly directly) that I have no way of knowing why Obama did so... This could have been a bowThis could have been part of any number of thingsI certainly can't say for certainty what happenedDoubt that anyone else here can either... Moreover, even if Obama did bow, I really don't give a damn. Personally, I think the right's fixation of these sorts of trivialities is much more telling... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 A nice guy showing sub-conscious respect to a fellow powerful man? I think it's obvious he bowed, and that if everyone were standing, he would have used a nice firm handshake instead. This wouldn't be a big deal if he had a different cultural upbringing. I had to bow to teachers in school before/after class to greet them, or if I passed them in the school. I don't think that indicated anything other than a gesture of respect? If Obama had been exposed to such cultural influences (and it seemed like he kinda did, with a childhood in Indonesia, etc), then this isn't that unnatural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobowolf Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 I think it's obvious he bowed, and that if everyone were standing, he would have used a nice firm handshake instead. I guess it's like playing "Gerber when obvious" -- What's obvious to some isn't obvious to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc... I'm genuinely curious as to why you are wondering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobowolf Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc... I'm genuinely curious as to why you are wondering. As a litmus test question, I think it would be right up there with the Noah's Ark thread. Maybe we could do a poll. It would actually do BETTER, because nobody alive today was around to the alleged ark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnneM Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 i mainly want to know what this looks like to most folks on the wc... I'm genuinely curious as to why you are wondering. As a litmus test question, I think it would be right up there with the Noah's Ark thread. Maybe we could do a poll. It would actually do BETTER, because nobody alive today was around to the alleged ark. I'm trying not to speculate. I note with regards to the Noah's ark question, Richard was very forthcoming about why he was posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanoi5 Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 He just dropped a contact lense, c'mon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimG Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 If you look at the video, its very clear that Obama bent from the waist. I stated (fairly directly) that I have no way of knowing why Obama did so... This could have been a bowThis could have been part of any number of thingsI certainly can't say for certainty what happenedDoubt that anyone else here can either... One of his aides can:An Obama aide speaking anonymously denied that the president was bowing. “It wasn’t a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he’s taller than King Abdullah,” the aide was quoted as saying by Politco.com Wednesday.If you view the video, you will see that he clearly grasped with one hand, bent at the waist, straightened, then grasped with two hands. I don't care whether he bowed or not. But, I am disappointed that an aide would try to put a spin on it by clearly mis-describing what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again. Why the f.... would anyone be polite to an arrogant bastard like Richard or a brain-dead parrot like Jimmy? The purpose of the water cooler is to absorb all the hostile bs that would otherwise contaminate the bridge forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Seems like a bow, at least of sorts. I would say that a bow in a social setting where others are hugging and patting on backs, generally acting like a bunch of good old boys at a barbecue, is not the same as a deferential bow in a formal setting. The Obamas might work on their stage presence bit. I didn't care much for Michelle Obama hugging the Queen. It's one thing to not bow to her, it's another thing to assume a right to physical contact. But I don't guess it all matters that much. Michelle Obama wore a sleeveless dress at the Inauguration, shocking everyone, Barack Obama wore a white shirt and tie addressing young people (I learned of this faux pas from another thread), and so on. Certainly it is far more important to worry about what he means by a strong and united response to North Korean rocket launching. But yes, it was a bow. And I agree with Lobo that staffers saying otherwise makes them and the President look a little silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke warm Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again. Why the f.... would anyone be polite to an arrogant bastard like Richard or a brain-dead parrot like Jimmy? The purpose of the water cooler is to absorb all the hostile bs that would otherwise contaminate the bridge forums. my point exactly... ty helene... as for josh, the question seems to be answered in r/l by which side of the political spectrum one is on, i wanted to know if that trend held... so far i'd say not so much, except for a couple of obvious exceptions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Fair enough. I think as long as someone doesn't particularly care what the answer is, then what they think it is doesn't matter to me. Personally I can't watch the clip at work so I haven't seen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnneM Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again. Why the f.... would anyone be polite to an arrogant bastard like Richard or a brain-dead parrot like Jimmy? The purpose of the water cooler is to absorb all the hostile bs that would otherwise contaminate the bridge forums. " If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? " This was my question to the poster. "I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again." This was my opinion about the bow, and obviously I was correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimG Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 " If you don't care what the bow looks like then why did you start the thread? " This was my question to the poster. "I think it is time that people started being polite to each other again." This was my opinion about the bow, and obviously I was correct. I think the point of the opening post was to see if people's political leanings influenced how they perceived the gesture. I do not think that wanting to hear peoples' reactions is inconsistent with not caring what the gesture actually was. Sort of like those ink blots that the psychiatrist shows you, no one cares what the spots actually represent (if anything), it's the individual reaction that is important. I read the second sentence, the suggestion that it was time to start being polite, as directed at the denizens of the water cooler, not the President. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke warm Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 one thing i do find amusing is that if this bow (if that's what it was) was merely politeness on the president's part, why deny it was a bow? why get defensive about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 one thing i do find amusing is that if this bow (if that's what it was) was merely politeness on the president's part, why deny it was a bow? why get defensive about it?Oh I don't know, maybe this is why?Absolutely patheticI would get defensive in response to that too. I don't honestly know why they would deny it rather than responding differently, but it pales in comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnneM Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 I had no reason to accuse the forum members of not being polite. I probably should have made the post two paragraphs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 I would wonder who, if anyone, was being defensive. It was somebody on the White House staff who denied it was a bow. That doesn't mean Obama would deny it, if asked directly (doesn't mean he wouldn't, either). My take on these staff types is that they reflexively try to spin everything in a light favorable to their boss. They often don't seem to think about it, either, they just do it. Doesn't mean that's what the boss really wants in any particular case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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