By Andrew L. Jaffee

… Who didn’t tell the president that the United States does not bow, especially not to the rulers of countries where women are less valuable than sheep? …

- Washington Post, 4/12/2009

Why would an American president bow before a dictator whose country is well-known for its human rights abuses? President Obama did just that: he bowed before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, sending the absolute wrong message to the Arab/Muslim World, that of submission to a part of humanity, “20, 30, 40 and even 50%,” is hostile to the United States and its allies. Not only is Obama kowtowing to a thug, but sweeping the misdeeds of that thug — incitement to violence against the West and massive human rights abuses — under the carpet. Has Obama forgotten that our great nation was founded on the concepts of equal rights for all humans and the rejection of official caste systems?

What happened to Michael Moore’s conspiracy theories about President Bush being too cozy with the Saudis? What has become of Noam Chomsky’s incoherent babbling about invading Afghanistan to build an uber oil pipeline? Why should Mr. Obama receive a free pass for snuggling up to supporters of terrorism like the Saudis?

Is Obama’s kowtowing to the Saudis a new oil conspiracy? President Obama wants to bring American troop strength in Afghanistan up to 60,000 — and get NATO to add more troops there. Is his rationale “blood for oil?” At least the Afghans have had elections. Why curry favor with a regime like Saudi Arabia’s, which represents the most extreme form of Islamism, that known as Wahabiism?

“Saudi Arabia should practice at home what it preaches abroad,” said a Human Rights Watch representative late last year. The Saudi king greets President Obama with smiles while the kingdom is “spending millions” on public relations to whitewash its world image — but “the leaders of Saudi Arabia have failed to address the vicious campaign of anti-American and anti-Semitic hatred that permeates Saudi society through the media, mosques and educational system.” If anything, Mr. Obama should be standoffish towards the House of Saud.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom “has expressed concern about the promotion of religious intolerance and religion-based violence in official Saudi government textbooks used both within Saudi Arabia and at Saudi schools abroad.” Just how is this Saudi behavior deserving of a bow from an American president?

Human Rights Watch says that, “There is no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia,” there is “systematic religious discrimination in Saudi Arabia,” that there is “systematic discrimination by Saudi authorities against its own Muslim Ismaili Shia minority,” that in one incident, “religious police beat and kicked a man until he died,” and that the “Approximately 1.5 million women from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and other countries are employed as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia” are often subject to abuse. This is just a smattering from an extensive list of Saudi Arabia’s crimes against humanity, yet President Obama is expressing deference to that same regime.

The Washington Times published a scathing yet absolutely correct critique about President Obama’s inappropriate bow to Saudi King Abdullah:

… Symbolism is important in world affairs. By bending over to show greater respect to Islam, the U.S. president belittled the power and independence of the United States. …

Mr. Obama’s bow to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques does not help his image with those who believe he is secretly a Muslim, and why he chose to bow only to the Saudi King and not to any other royals remains unexplained.

No Americans of any station are required to bow to royalty. It is one of the pillars of American exceptionalism that our country rejected traditional caste divisions. …

Press outlets have been conspicuously silent on Mr. Obama’s bow. …

Mr. Obama is proving that one can be elected president without knowing how to behave presidentially. His servile gesture was fully fitting with the tone of his humility tour of Europe. In his eagerness to be loved personally, the president has lost sight of the fact that the leader of the free world also must be respected.

Obama is not malicious. Rather, he is a very small fish in a very big pond, though representing the biggest fish in that pond. He is too inexperienced for playing the rough and tumble games of realpolitik. It would behoove him to spend a little more time studying about world political dynamics, spend less time worrying about how he wants to be loved, and start showing some self-respect and deference towards the people he represents.

After all, Mr. Obama is the president of the world’s strongest nation and greatest democracy.

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Related: Arab/Muslim World, Dictator Watch, Foreign Policy, History, Human Rights, Islam, Obama

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