Official: Reaction to Japan Bow Left Obama "Speechless"
Now the president is responding – kind of. The Atlantic quotes "a US government official who was on the trip" who says the president was left "speechless" by the controversy.
"Obama's attitude was, this is an elderly gentleman in a country where this kind of greeting is customary," said the official. "It does not seem extraordinary to show this kind of gesture to him."
"The Fox News poll said that 67 percent of Americans thought [the bow] was a good thing for him to have done," the official continued. "When the president heard that some people had complained, I'd characterize his reaction as: The notion that the United States is somehow humbling or humiliating itself by showing respect for a local custom, when it is transparently the most powerful country in the world, leaves me speechless."
As criticism of the president for the bow bubbled up, media outlets noted that anger over what some see as excessive presidential deference to a foreign leader is nothing new. President George W. Bush was criticized for holding the hand of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, while Presidents Clinton and Nixon took heat for bows or near-bows to the Japanese emperor. Mr. Obama has also been criticized for genuflecting to Abdullah.