OBAMA BOWS BEFORE JAPAN'S EMPEROR

[Guest lazyphil]

<>

 

you cant be lazy and have a six pack. not possible

[cavanami]

...and if the PM of the UK or other European countries were to call on the Japanese royal family, what would they do? what have they done in the past? Can't remember seeing another country's PM or president make a visit...but that's may be my iron clad memory...

[kamui]

...and if the PM of the UK or other European countries were to call on the Japanese royal family, what would they do? what have they done in the past? Can't remember seeing another country's PM or president make a visit...but that's may be my iron clad memory...

 

I guess that neither the European media nor the audience do care for such minor protocol questions.

It seems to be an US thing that the president "doesn't bow" to anybody.

 

It's probably a result of the bygone era when the US was the dominating power of the world. It's also a result of the American exceptionalism:

 

American exceptionalism (def. "exceptionalism") refers to the theory that the United States occupies a special niche among the nations of the world in terms of its national credo, historical evolution, political and religious institutions and unique origins. The roots of the term are attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, who claimed that the then-50-year-old United States held a special place among nations, because it was a country of immigrants and the first modern democracy. The term itself did not emerge until after World War II when it was embraced by neoconservative[4] pundits in what was described in the International Herald Tribune as "an ugly twist of late".

 

If you liste carefully, vou'll find the idea of the "American exceptionalism" floated in almost every major speech of an US politican today.

In Obama's case it is actively used to describe Obama as "the Other", which means he is not a 'real American', or as the right wing says even an enemy of the USA. I guess this has a lot to do with several aspects of Obama's which makes the right feel extremely uneasy:

- he is not from an old, rich, white family, instead is black

- he is from a very contemporary, i.e. patchwork family, while GWB and most others still play the "Waltons" in public. Palin by the way presents a contemporary family as well, but the dark side of it (teen pregnancy, low education, drug use, e.g.)

- he grew up partly outside the US (while Plain didn't even had a passport until recently)

- he is highly educated and highly successful in his ventures (while GWB was loser and a cheerleader)

- he has very strong and self confident wife

- he doesn't belong to all those fraternities and networks of the white upperclass

 

In short: Obama is everything neither conservative politicians nor joe six-packs are. So they react with fear, distrust, refusal and hate. And they are desperately looking for an sign for to proof that he is actually 'not them'.

 

The funny thing is that most of the US politics is highly symbolic and ideologic. As long as you are devout Christian and find the right words, it doesn't matter that you run the country in the ground. Even though at a time when the lower- and middle class already suffered financially (the median income went down for them under the Republicans) they kept on voting for the conservatives, because they represent the correct ideology and Christian values.

That's so difficult to understand for most Europeans. Most of them vote with their wallet: If a political party is decreasing their income and job security it will be soon voted out of office.

In the US it needed a world wide crash to push veil of empty ideologiacal phrases and Christian values asided. But now the curtains are closing again...

 

Personally I fear the demise of the USA, because the next super power will be much more brutal in destroying any adversariy and deleting human rights.

 

But I guess the demise has already begun. There are some simple signs, like how can you compete with countries hungry for education, while the US has the worst school system of the leading industrial countries...

 

[Flashermac]

Bullshit, with a capital doodoo. It goes back to 1783, when the American colonies successfully threw off British rule. Titles of royalty and nobility were no longer recognised and American rulers refused to bow before any crowned head of state. The USA in the 18th century was a very underpopulated country of 13 states that did not extend west of the Mississippi River.

 

Of course, Obie Wan knows next to nothing about history and tradition, and doesn't give a rats ass about them anyway. Quite interesting that he has not bowed before any European monarch or head of state, only to a Muslim despot and an Asian figurehead emperor.

 

 

 

By the way, de Tocquevile also wrote about the "tyranny of the majority". Explain that to the Red Shirts.

 

 

[kamui]

Bullshit, with a capital doodoo. It goes back to 1783, when the American colonies successfully threw off British rule. Titles of royalty and nobility were no longer recognised and American rulers refused to bow before any crowned head of state. The USA in the 18th century was a very underpopulated country of 13 states that did not extend west of the Mississippi River.

 

Of course, Obie Wan knows next to nothing about history and tradition, and doesn't give a rats ass about them anyway. Quite interesting that he has not bowed before any European monarch or head of state, only to a Muslim despot and an Asian figurehead emperor.

 

 

 

By the way, de Tocquevile also wrote about the "tyranny of the majority". Explain that to the Red Shirts.

 

 

I guess you didn't read the quote, which included de Tocquevi[color:red]ll[/color]e. :content:

 

[chuckwoww]

Bullshit, with a capital doodoo. It goes back to 1783, when the American colonies successfully threw off British rule. Titles of royalty and nobility were no longer recognised and American rulers refused to bow before any crowned head of state. The USA in the 18th century was a very underpopulated country of 13 states that did not extend west of the Mississippi River.

 

Of course, Obie Wan knows next to nothing about history and tradition, and doesn't give a rats ass about them anyway. Quite interesting that he has not bowed before any European monarch or head of state, only to a Muslim despot and an Asian figurehead emperor.

 

 

I think that's right. There's a strong anti-royalist thread running through American history.

 

Funny thing is I can see a streak of envy too. A lot of Americans are fascinated with the British Monarchy for instance. Maybe, just maybe, there's such a thing as Divine Right.

 

[Guest lazyphil]

envy is better than bitterness i.e. aussies.

[Flashermac]

Uh ... that's why I mentioned de Tocqueville. I had to read him as an undergrad often enough. Very perceptive man - nearly two centuries ago, he wrote that the US and Russia would become world powers. This when the US was almost powerless and Russia was a big klutzy giant locked away in eastern Europe.

 

The problem as I see it is that Obie is thoughtlessly doing these things which irritate people and only make it harder for him to do what he wants. It's not just the right wing that is turning against him. They always were. He only was elected with the votes of the centrists, and he is losing them very rapidly.

 

"- he is highly educated and highly successful in his ventures (while GWB was loser and a cheerleader)" Bush had the exact same university degrees.

 

And if you think Obama is an outsider, wait util you see Pawlenty. He's half-Polish and half-German.

His father drove a milk delivery truck and his mother died when he was a teen. Poor enough?

 

 

 

 

 

[chuckwoww]

envy is better than bitterness i.e. aussies.

 

Yeah. But don't forget the first Americans mostly chose to immigrate. Aussies are stuck with that transportation history.

[kamui]

"- he is highly educated and highly successful in his ventures (while GWB was loser and a cheerleader)" Bush had the exact same university degrees.

 

And if you think Obama is an outsider, wait util you see Pawlenty. He's half-Polish and half-German.

His father drove a milk delivery truck and his mother died when he was a teen. Poor enough?

Come on, while became the first black chief editor of the leading US student law magazine, GWB became a cheerleader, obviously his only achievement as a student.

 

So, do you think that Pawlenty has *any* chance?