The Nuclear Summit

[Louis VI the Fat]

Will someone explain the bowing thing to me? I realize a true American never bows to nobody, unless of course he's presidnet, because they all bow....Even to the pope, which I find much more egregious than anything else.

Obama is just being your typical uncultured American. A bow is never supposed to be done together with physical contact, as Obama does in the picture of the OP. It's a laff.*

Although I suppose the criticism is that Obama is grovelling to a foreign leader again. I might in fact share this criticism, but I can't make up my mind where cultural sensitivity ends and grovelling begins. There is something refreshing, instead of laughable, about typcial American culturally sensitivity, which contrary to public perception is something the Americans excell in and always make an effort to.


* Incidentally, while I'm at it, in the modern age, one does not kiss a woman's hand. You're not a dog, and she doesn't need your saliva all over her hands. Your lips move close to her hand, then blow a little.