Mr. Obama, with all due respect, and speaking as only one of the sixty-nine-and-one-half million people who voted for you, please stop bowing before other world leaders.
I understand what you're trying to accomplish – really, I do. My progressive cred is good, my union membership active, my marriage interracial, and as a history teacher and faculty sponsor of various socially-conscious stuff, I've long supported intercultural awareness and international travel. I understand what you were trying to do when you performed ojigi before the Emperor of Japan – but I just can't bring myself to think that it was a good idea.
I know this puts me in the same camp as the wingnuts - and that bums me out - but while I can't abide the way they vent their displeasure, I also can't conclude that they're wrong in their thesis. Images do matter, as do the way they are perceived (and as opposed to how we'd like them to be perceived) by other folks around the world. In my most humble of opinions, you're sending the wrong message, if not to the citizens of other nations, then at least to that of your own.
This topic was previously diaried in colonelgreen's I, for one, welcome America's new Japanese overlord., which takes a more pro-bowing stance.
Mr. President, I'm no sociologist, nor do I know a great deal about mass psychology. In other words, I can't make my argument on a deep understanding of Jungian archetypes, Freudian slips, or anything like that, but I do know that how we humans perceive acts of submission is gut-level stuff. Submissive behavior is understood and utilized by species with emotions far less nuanced than ours, but I don't think we're yet so far advanced from our animal natures that even (the admittedly noble cause of) cross-cultural understanding can allow us to work past our instinctual first interpretation without conscious thought and effort. Body language accounts for a weirdly-huge percentage of communication, and most people, upon seeing that latest picture of you and the Emperor, aren't going to put in much more thought about interpreting the gesture than what their gut tells them. For the most part, that doesn't bode well for the good guys.
Alas, I have an ample gut from which to take measure, but I am aware of a little history, as well. I know, for example, that some images can become iconic in their portrayal of relationships between superiors and inferiors, and that they can convey messages which resonate across time and borders. This one:
is often reprinted in textbooks, where it is used as an example of how MacArthur was conveying a message of strength in the wake of Japan's surrender. Here's the take from PBS:
If ever a picture was worth a thousand words, it was the image of General MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito standing side by side during their historic first meeting on September 27, 1945. In it, a casually dressed MacArthur towers over the stiff, formally attired Emperor. "What does it say?" asks historian Carol Gluck. "It says, I'm MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, and I'm in charge." For millions of Japanese, it brought home in an entirely new way the notion that they had lost the war.
Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989)
Note that Hirohito was the Emperor's given name before ascension to the throne, and that in Japanese culture, one never refers to the Emperor by his given name – only by title. That his pre-Imperial name is used so ubiquitously is another of those quiet biases to which we seem to have become inured – if a name were applied to His Majesty, it should properly be "Showa" ("Enlightened Peace"), the title of his reign.
As your CIA briefings no doubt indicated, the current Kinjo Tenno, whose given name was Akihito, is the 125th Emperor of Japan, and the only monarch in the world whose title is routinely translated as "emperor." In Japan, there's an interesting constitutional debate about whether the emperor is now a common citizen or one with special powers related to the traditional imperial role in the Shinto and Buddhist calendars, but by proclamation in 1945, Showa renounced the status of the emperor as an incarnate deity (though he may or may not have left open the debate on whether or not he was descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu).
Thus, we're not talking about a Papal situation, where the expectation would be for a believer to kiss the pontiff's ring. Since Michelle Malkin and the other Useful Idiots didn't trumpet it from the rooftops, I'm assuming you didn't show that particular sign of respect to those of the Catholic faith when you met with the Pope last summer, even if it does seems like honoring the customs of the largest single denomination of any religious faith in the United States might've been a good idea. Still, I find no mention of such an act in this article (cited by way of example) from The Daily Beast:
The president was then escorted to meet the pope, who greeted him with a smile and handshake. "Welcome, Mr. President," he said in English. "Thank you. It is a great honor, thank you so much," replied President Obama. The two then sat at a simple wooden desk while photographers snapped their pictures.
That would seem to me the proper manner for the leader of a secular republic to greet a religious leader, but there is a lot of precedent for the more deferential course. Other world leaders have placed their lips upon the Fisherman's Ring, and upon the rings of clergyman lower in rank than the pontificate, as well. Here's the Vice President of Brazil kissing the jewelry of a mere cardinal:
...though I don't think I'd be going too far out on a limb in theorizing that Mr. Alencar is, like the vast preponderance of those who cast votes on his behalf, a Catholic.
Mr. Obama, I'm not saying you should descend into Bush-era behavior vis-à-vis world leaders:
But somewhere between barbarism, illness, submission, and arrogant overlordship lies a respect between equals. That's the message conveyed by these photos:
The Emperor greets the King of Morocco
The Emperor greets the President of the Republic of Korea
The Emperor greets the Dark Lord of the Sith
The Emperor greets Russian caudillo Vladimir Putin
There's no call for you show a sign of respect that is, frankly, beneath the station to which you have been elected. Leave that stuff to the 300,000,000 of us who aren't our majority-elected leaders. If I were to meet the Emperor, you're damn straight I'd be bowing – if I could thrice prostrate myself in front of my honored 시어머니 (mother-in-law) while presenting her with a pair of carved wooden ducks at my wedding, I suppose I could make myself play along with society's rules of etiquette and bow before another country's monarch – but I expect no such behavior from my president. You're supposed to stand tall before the world, and represent us by looking other leaders square in the eye.
You were elected to represent the United States in what I understood to be a new way – still strong and resolute in our principles, but respectful of the ways and needs of other nations. The repudiation of the idea of American Exceptionalism has proven a boon to international relations, but there's no need – indeed, it's counter-productive – to overcompensate by being unnecessarily submissive on the world stage. It's not expected of you, and like most surprises, it's not going to be interpreted as positively as its progenitors might hope.
I say all this in full acknowledgement that I could be wrong – that textbooks 50 years from now will show the image of the President of the United States bowing before the Emperor of Japan as the beginning of a new era of intercultural peace and understanding. If that's the case, and you were indeed winning a 19-dimension foreign policy chess game, you have my word that I shall eat my crow humbly. I'll ask you to remember, though, that it was stuff like this:
that won you the Nobel Prize, not "respectful greetings" (YouTube link) or making a gesture of apology to the leader of a nation which, as the South Koreans in my life remind me, has much to apologize for itself. Plus, if I might descend into the rhetorical, why provide your detractors with ammunition?
Diplomacy is a minefield of body language and subtle physical clues that go beyond rational attempts to understand the cultural significance of another's actions. Please don't send the message that a respectful and collaboration-based foreign policy means visible displays of supplication. Instead, show on our behalf, Mr. President, that our nation is strong and resolute in dealing with the myriad of crises with which you were burdened, that we're tightening our belts and working hard to get out of this Great Recession, and that we're ready to move forward with the countries of the world as our equal partners to face the challenges of the 21st century.
I understand the difficulty this poses for men like you (and I, if I may be so bold), Mr. President: our default mode is to be respectful of the customs and courtesies of other countries. The Ugly American stereotype weighs heavily on us, and we have no desire to be seen as brutish or provincial. Nevertheless, certain times and places will require us to set that ingrained ideology aside – one must act in a manner contrary to one's nature in order to advance the greater good. It is not normal for me to be stubborn and demanding, yet that is exactly what I must be in the context of union contract negotiations. For you, I daresay both the context and import are exponentially greater
I'm still a fan, and I still think you're moving us in the right direction. I also think that for all its blemishes, the United States is rightly ensconced among the great nations of history. We've been conscious of the dangers of sucking up to nobility since the earliest days of our republic:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.
U.S. Constitution - Article 1 Section 9
(and I'll not even get into the "Missing" 13th Amendment or the problems posed by Sir Rudolph Giuliani, knight of the British Empire, running for President)
...and I think that we as a nation should continue to reflect that spirit of equality. You, Mr. President, are the international public face of us as a nation; please ensure you reflect our strength and pride, in addition to our cosmopolitan flair, when you visit People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea later this week.