Mr. Obama, with all due respect, and speaking as only one of the sixty-nine-and-one-half million people who voted for you, please stop bowing before other world leaders.
I understand what you're trying to accomplish – really, I do. My progressive cred is good, my union membership active, my marriage interracial, and as a history teacher and faculty sponsor of various socially-conscious stuff, I've long supported intercultural awareness and international travel. I understand what you were trying to do when you performed ojigi before the Emperor of Japan – but I just can't bring myself to think that it was a good idea.
I know this puts me in the same camp as the wingnuts - and that bums me out - but while I can't abide the way they vent their displeasure, I also can't conclude that they're wrong in their thesis. Images do matter, as do the way they are perceived (and as opposed to how we'd like them to be perceived) by other folks around the world. In my most humble of opinions, you're sending the wrong message, if not to the citizens of other nations, then at least to that of your own.
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