"From Every Kind Of Man Obedience I Expect ...."

By protocol, American presidents don't bow to heads of state, but the message still hasn't reached Obama, as the picture below shows.














Yesterday's bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito elicited this response from Scott Johnson at Powerline:

Obama's breach of protocol is of a piece with his foreign policy. He means to teach Americans to bow before monarchs and tyrants. He embodies the ideological multiculturalism that sets the United States on the same plane as other regimes based on tribal privilege and royal bloodlines. He gives expressive form to the idea that the United States now willingly prostrates itself before the rest of the world. He declares that the United States is a country like any other, only worse, because we have so much for which to apologize.

Read the whole thing here.

Title courtesy of W.S. Gilbert, from The Mikado

The Cluelessness Continues At The White House

Power Line's John Hinderaker posts more about "Amateur Hour At The White House." I've had "Potomac Fever" for fifty years and never in those years witnessed such a struggle to approach competence. Either the career employees in the White House are too afraid to make suggestions or the Obama people are ignoring them.

William Katz (Urgent Agenda) had some comments today that apply to this dilemma:

We recall that Douglas MacArthur once said that all defeats begin with two words: Too late. Obama is learning. But, by the time he comes to the right conclusions and gets himself the right advisors, it may be too late. What was gained in the Western (i.e. American) victory in the Cold War can slip away.

Madam Boxer: Elitist Hypocrite From California

There's plenty happening around the world today, some of it extremely significant, including events in Iran. Instead of focusing on these larger stories, a much quieter, but equally important event occurred this week involving Barbara Boxer. It seems she has revealed her true colors with a "request" that she be referred to as "senator" rather than the term "ma'am" during a Senate hearing. The individual addressing her was Brigadier General Michael Walsh, an officer well-versed in protocol and quite correctly using the appropriate form of address.

Normally, I wouldn't be upset by this situation, but the depth of the hypocrisy coming out of the Democratic Party these days, along with a seemingly complete lack of knowledge of protocol, has forced me to respond. Boxer has been around a long time, unfortunately, and knows procedure. Could some of the arrogance descending from the White House be filtering into Boxer's brain? Whatever, as a Democrat, she is a member of what Jonah Goldberg calls the "coalition of the oppressed" and perhaps simply felt a personal need for status verification. Personally, I think her behavior revealed her for precisely what she is, an elitist and a hypocrite. The last time I checked, the Senate of the United States was not yet the seat of persons of title or peers. Sadly, Boxer's "request" assuredly places her above the commoners she represents. All commoners in California who vote "Democrat" should take notice that they are being had. "Ma'am" isn't good enough for her. She's above all that, "above the salt," so to speak. She is "Senator."

What else is the elitist, hypocrite "Senator" Boxer? Pick all that apply:

Self-important
Class conscious
Arrogant
Narcissistic
Officious
Petty
Disrespectful

Add your own:
_________
_________

I think you get my point. Madam is up for re-election in 2010, but I doubt there will ever be enough achievers in California to keep the oppressed masses from returning her to office. Shameful.

Protocol 101

Heads of state have been exchanging gifts on official visits since the beginning of time. The best the new White House staff could do for Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was send him home with a set of 25 DVDs of classic American films. Disgraceful. I'm sure Barack Obama wasn't out perusing the Wal-Mart on New York Avenue selecting a gift; the White House has a staff that does this sort of thing. I can't believe some mid-level career employee, say a GS-11, didn't pull on someone's sleeve and suggest a more appropriate gift. Afraid to speak, you say? Perhaps. Were they asked for some guidance? Ceremony and protocol are important symbolic functions in Washington. Seems we have a steep learning curve even with centuries-old traditions.

In the scope of things, this may be interpreted as a small issue, until the fly is in your soup.