Double Standard: Media was All Over Bill Clinton for his Bow but Not For Barack Obama

A double standard in the main stream media? Say it isn’t so. It is pretty bad in the media when there is an even more selective double standard when reporting on the Democratic party. As Hot Air stated, “when did the unthinkable in 1994 become the unmentionable in 2009”? The answer, when it is any form of criticism of the Chosen One, Barack Obama.

It may not be the first bow ever by a US President; however, it was the first one ignored and not covered by the media. Barack, it must be quite an honor to have more water carried for you by the MSM than Bill Clinton.

Expressing a servile attitude to
a foreign leader is something
Obowma does with aplomb. Understanding
the implications of this salaam may be
well be above his pay grade. However,
‘Dancing with the Tzars’ points for
the perfect ankle grab could earn
him a “9″ or better for style. (Vanderbilt – ‘09)

Hot Air reminds us that The New York Times sharply criticized former President Bill Clinton “for a mere inclination of his shoulders towards Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1994.”

It wasn’t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent President, and the Emperor of Japan.

Canadians still bow to England’s Queen; so do Australians. Americans shake hands. If not to stand eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were 1776 and all that about? But Mr. Clinton, alas, is not the only one since George Washington who has seemed not quite to know what to make of monarchs.

Guests invited to a white-tie state dinner at the White House (a Clinton Administration first) were instructed to address the Emperor as “Your Majesty,” not “Your Highness” or, worse, “King.” And in what one Administration aide called “some emperor thing,” an Army general was cautioned that he should not address the Emperor Akihito at all as he escorted him to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

But the “thou need not bow” commandment from the State Department’s protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years. Administration officials scurried to insist that the eager-to-please President had not really done the unthinkable.

“It was not a bow-bow, if you know what I mean,” said Ambassador Molly Raiser, the chief of protocol.

UPDATE I: Bow-ow-ow: Obama’s painful missteps

The buck stops with the President. If it was good enough for the media to hold GWB to that standard, then the same should hold true for Barack Obama.

In your column, you say, “President Obama has been ill-served by his advisors and staff.”

The primary job requirement of a good senior executive is the ability to judge character and ability, in order to be able to select people to whom responsibilities may be safely delegated. If these advisors and staff are inadequate, the responsibility for their failures should be laid at the feet of the person who was ultimately responsible for their selection and placement.