LOS ANGELES (YBH) – The Obama administration took a lot of heat earlier this year when President Obama “bowed” to the Saudi King. The administration went to great lengths to disavow the bow, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs flatly telling the White House Press Pool that Mr. Obama did not bow.
It was a bold move on Mr. Gibbs part, and the press mostly let it slide as, quite frankly, there were bigger fish to fry. Will the White House now admit that Mr. Obama did in fact bow before the Saudi King. When asked directly about the bow by a CNN reporter, Mr. Gibbs at the time said “No, I think he bent over with both, to shake — with both hands to shake his hand.”
Video of the bow:
The question for YBH! was never about whether Mr. Obama bowed, he did and it was not that big of an issue for us, but why did the White House go so far as to have the Press Secretary lie about it?
The White House lost a lot of face over the issue with sectors of the American public. It can also be tracked as the beginning of when the press began to fight back against the Obama administration.
This week the administration is wasting no time defending Mr. Obama’s bow before the Japanese Emperor Akihito. No disavowing this time. Smart move.
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John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
