Obama’s Bow- Protocol nod or wink of appeasement?

An article on the games of the ninth Olympiad in the Encyclopedia of the modern Olympic Games takes note of the following: "The American team was also watched closely for their etiquette as they marched passed the reviewing stand. Led by AOC head MacArthur, the Yankee squad continued the American custom of refusing to bow to or salute any foreign monarch…"

Since he is no Olympian, when Barack Obama met with the King of Saudi Arabia recently he proffered what might be interpreted as a deep and unmistakeable bow. Whatever the eventual excuse given for this apparent obeisance, I doubt it will accompany the photo as it is reproduced in publications throughout the Islamic world.

Some people ascribe this alleged faux pas to Obama's ignorance of the proper protocol between Heads of State. Yet when he met with the Queen of England, he shook hands and nodded slightly, a correct and inoffensive greeting under the circumstances. (See the Youtube videos now playing under the heading "Did you Catch that?" to the left.) It appears that the State Department's Acting Chief of Protocol may have briefed him after all.

The difference suggests not ignorance, but an intentional application of Obama's special knowledge.

Thanks to his years of Muslim schooling as a child in Indonesia (from 1967-1971 he lived there with his mother and Indonesian step father, who was like his Kenyan sire, of the Islamic faith), Obama is certainly aware of and sensitive to the special religious status and legitimacy claimed by the Saudi Monarch "as guardian of Mecca and Medina, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and of the Islamic faith." While we citizens of the American republic mull over the possible insult to the sovereignty and republican mores of the people Obama is supposed to represent, his gesture of religious fealty sends an unmistakable message to Muslim millions around the world. Could it be the proverbial wink that a con artist uses to communicate his real identity to those who are in on the sting?

Just another episode that, taken by itself, may mean nothing. But in the context of all we know, and ominously don't know, about the background and policies of the present occupant of the White House, it is as Arsenio Hall used to say, one of those "things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm."

Worth considering? Then don't forget to DIGG IT!!!!