Come on man! Amature hour is over! You are THE FUCKING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! Get someone on your staff who has a clue!
Seriously, I don’t directly fault President Obama for this one (or many of his other “missteps”). How the hell can he be expected to understand protocol (I mean that seriously, I am not taking a swipe at President Obama, where would one learn all this)? BUT, you HAVE to get someone on your staff who knows this stuff. Seriously, you HAVE to find a protocol officer and a Chief of Staff who understand these things.
This has been a tremondous failure on the part of the Obama Administration. They have not done a good job surrounding President Obama with experienced and knowledgable staff. This is embarrassing.
Again, I don’t expect President Obama to “know” this stuff. I don’t think many new Presidents can possibly know this protocol crap. I guarantee GW didn’t. But, the Administration has to take steps to ensure the President doesn’t step on his dick and they are failing miserably.
Bow-ow-ow: Obama’s painful missteps
Let the new president grow into the job – but he’d better do it fast! Plus: Readers ask about everything from talk radio, morality and Mary McCarthy, to that big movie about a sinking ship.
By Camille Paglia
. . .
Obama’s staffing problems are blatant – from that bleating boy of a treasury secretary to what appears to be a total vacuum where a chief of protocol should be. There has been one needless gaffe after another – from the president’s tacky appearance on a late-night comedy show to the kitsch gifts given to the British prime minister, followed by the sweater-clad first lady’s over-familiarity with the queen and culminating in the jaw-dropping spectacle of a president of the United States bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia. Why was protest about the latter indignity confined to conservatives? The silence of the major media was a disgrace. But I attribute that embarrassing incident not to Obama’s sinister or naive appeasement of the Muslim world but to a simple if costly breakdown in basic command of protocol.
well, he had about 5 years of experience prior to becoming President. the country was desperate for change and they elected a junior candidate. i’m just glad he’s not making music videos (at least not at the moment).
i’ve mentioned before how embarrassing it is that he cannot appoint a suitable cabinet. clearly, surrounding himself with stable/honest/capable people has been a challenge across the board.
why is that?
the sophistication and savvy is just not a part of this inexperienced/skimpy administration; i do not appreciate the casualization of the presidential office.
lastly, the ipod gag was absolutely classless, as was Michelle Obama (yet again. she is like a horse run amok, IMO).
even a nobody like me would give a better gift to the queen, based on common sense alone. come on. and didn’t he think that he would have to figure out how to greet foreign leaders?
i’m surprised he didn’t try a fist bump.
it’s like the hillbillies have moved into the white house–white sleeveless tops and all. but hey, at least oprah loves them.
I read that article yesterday and it hit the nail on the head. He needs to get his shit together and fast. These are not small things. Someone throw the man a lifeline.
Seriously, you HAVE to find a protocol officer and a Chief of Staff who understand these things
I was thinking the same thing weeks ago, following a relatively minor gaffe (I swear, I was worried that this exact scenario would occur). The American president should bow to no one, period. No excuses, no explanations, never.
Maybe they should fire that Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle guy and make room for Doris Kearns Goodwin on the payroll. Sheesh.
He is either lost and out of his league, or he fully intended to send a message.
He wants the U.S. , in a fashion, to bow down to other countries too, be more like socialist countries, appease the middle east, make sure everyone likes us.
They are talking about having an international oversight board to govern the world monetary policy, so they can manage Wall Street from over the pond.
I thinks he care nothing about the sovernity of the United States, he is willing to deal our freedom.
He won the election, it went through proper channels, but I am truly scared that we will not recover from some of the dumbass things he is doing and implying.
I’m really not sure that it was a “gaffe”… I’m beginning to think that he really thinks of every other country as a *peer *of the United States.
Unfortunately, that’s what you tend to get when you elevate someone with little or no previous leadership experience to what is arguably the most senior leadership position in the entire world.
This thread is classic Lavender Room. One side sees an unfortunate gaffe as nothing less than a Democratic US president signifying the forfeiture of our soverignity; the other sees nothing at all problematic with a gesture that could be misconstrued as exactly that (is there a Mauve or Periwinkle Room somewhere, where moderates gather to politely agree or express the full measure of their indifference?).
It seems fairly obvious to me that the Obama Charm Offensive stumbled badly, and what was intended as nothing more than a sign of friendship and respect among allies, revealed a startling lack of adherence to, or knowledge of, presidential protocol. It is not comparable to Bush’s garden stroll with King Abdullah in any way; a full bow to a foreign king seems wholly inappropriate for an American president, no matter his intentions.
America has had a legitimate claim to being the most powerful country in the world for probably 90 years for much of which it was strongly challenged by the USSR. I’ve moved here and love the place but that’s a long blink in even modern history. THe idea the the US has consistently demonstrated some sort of global dominance which means it doesn’t have to show even a little circumspection is laughable. I’m British and we were on top for probably 300 years for all the good it did us.
The US is right now the strongest military force and the largets economy in the world but it’s military is stretched and its economy is vulnerable - I would respectfully suggest that with China rising as fast as it is now might not be the best time to claim global leadership as of right but the concentrate on earning it.
I wil give him kuddos for improving his salute coming off Air Force One. It is getting crisper, a vast improvement from that limp fish hand he started out with.
I wil give him kuddos for improving his salute coming off Air Force One. It is getting crisper, a vast improvement from that limp fish hand he started out with.
Absolutely…and it’s only taken him 90 days to make this kind of progress with something that difficult! No telling what he might be able to accomplish in time.
"the sophistication and savvy is just not a part of this inexperienced/skimpy administration; i do not appreciate the casualization of the presidential office. "
I’m laughing thinking of Pres Bush chest bumping USAFA cadets. We haven’t had a sophisticated or diplomatically savvy administration in a decade.
Seems like this is really the DoS’s job. Isn’t this kind of thing pretty much right in their wheelhouse? We have a whole bunch of career diplomats for a reason.
Where? Japan? Is bowing there an act of submission or tantamount to a handshake?
Or with the Pope?
Not if he is greeting him as a head of state. If he is receiving a rite or sacrament then of course. But then he would not be bowing so much to the Pope but to God.
