Are you kidding me!?
I just turned on the news and thought I’d check Fox “News” just for grins (always willing to grant equal time). What should I discover but a lengthy report on our President Obama bowing — yes, bowing — to some sheik dude or somebody. Huh?
And then the phone rang.
So I came back to ye olde Internet after the call to find out what the flap was all about. And as with all things even remotely political, what happened, or didn’t happen, is never a matter of fact but a matter of who’s telling the story.
The moment in question was President Obama meeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JGK-xbXxMw]
Quick, now. Was that a bow? Or wasn’t it? Was the move accidental or intentional? Was it worth hours and hours and pages and pages of media analysis, coverage, and criticism (all of which I managed to miss)? Was it an inexcusable snub to the Queen of England, who had rated only a polite nod of the head (although some sources say that, too, was a bow)? Was it, as one seriously misinformed individual suggested, one Muslim showing allegiance to another? Did an historic, unforgivable, irreparable, and ultimately catastrophic breech of diplomatic protocol occur? Was this the end of the world as we know it!!??
I’m getting too old for this crap. I turned 66 yesterday, which beat the hell out of the only alternative, but today I’m exhausted and suddenly feel about 90. I really don’t give a rat’s ass if our very polite, very new president forgot diplomatic protocol for an instant — if, in fact, that is what happened — and instead acted respectfully and courteously toward someone.