guys guys guys, the G-20 was so successful on the surface with Barrack's leadership, the wingers have to have something to gripe about. give them a break
It's a normal gesture in Arabic culture for a younger person to bow a bit in front of an elder. Even though I don't like much of what he does, he has shown more cultural understanding in his months as President than the collection of all American Presidents before him, and it hasn't gone unnoticed around the world.
And that would be understandable if done by anybody else, but this is the leader of the free world we're talking about here... I'm all for respecting cultures. I've lived in various parts of the world (including the Middle East.) Obama is pretty much awesome in everything he does. This I don't necessarily agree with. There are protocols in place for encounters of this nature.
Why, because we have an ego to uphold? I consider myself republican, and people like Basso is the main reason why republicans are losing the political battle. It's people like him that nitpick over the stupid issues that strayed away from core Republican values. Imo, he's no better than the extremist Muslim's he's always going on about. I can clearly see an alternate universe in which he straps a bomb to himself to bomb muslims.
Uh....yeah....the protocol was that he should bow....also remember, Obama is trying to make a good first impression on everybody, so I don't think he will want to take any, ANY risks at insulting anybody (I can imagine an arab-version of basso, if Obama hadn't bowed he would be hopping mad and declaring Obama to be the worst president ever).
So you don't care if Biden does it or Gordon Brown? Sorry, that's ridiculous. Thinking that the gesture is a "who's better?" sign is immature and backwards. It is a sign of respect to someone who is older than you. Respect sits above your "protocol" in this scenario. They are two humans in leadership positions. One is older. The other bowed, which in THIS SPECIFIC CULTURE just means "I respect you". So unless you're insinuating that Obama shouldn't respect him, I don't understand the problem.
