[Sangetsu]

Unfortunately, this is news. I heard time and time again when GWB was president that a president's actions reflected the United States as a whole. Japan has been pretty good about the affair though, the Japanese press have not shown photos of Obama's bow because they don't wish to embarrass him.

Even ordinary business people take classes in protocol before visiting Japan so they don't end doing what Obama did. I have no idea what he was thinking, and all I can guess is that he wasn't thinking at all. Obama's bow was like that given by a 1st year salaryman to the president of his company, humble nearly to the point of groveling.

As far as I'm concerned, the US president shouldn't bow to anybody.

If you look for it, you can find old film of the Berlin Olympic Games held in the 1930's. Then, as now, each country's athletes walk in formation around the track, following the flags of their respective countries. Hitler was the "Fuhrer" of Germany at the time, and stood on a podium to watch the spectacle.

At the Berlin games, each time a nation's flag came before Hitler's podium, it was lowered to a 45 degree angle, and Hitler saluted it. But of all the flags that passed Hitler's podium that day, only one was not lowered, and that was the American flag.

To this day, the American flag is not lowered for any event, save national tragedy or emergency. It is not lowered out of respect to any foreign leader, in any land, under any circumstance. The president is the embodiment of America, and should hold himself to the same standards which the flag represents.