CNN calls out Obama for the head bow, criticizes the media for ignoring it, including Jay Leno's double standard, and Robert Gibb's lying about it.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/04/10/video-cnn-mildly-scolds-obama-for-bow-media-for-ignoring-it/
Heads of state do not bow to other heads of state. Abdullah didn’t reciprocate with a bow to Obama, for instance, and none of the other heads of state in the original video did so much as a shoulder incline. It’s the act of a rank amateur, a man unprepared to represent a nation as head of state. Thankfully, a few people have begun to notice it.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/huntley/1520326,CST-EDT-hunt10.article
Instead of just acknowledging an error, Robert Gibbs lied about it, and all but dared the media to report it.
Did he or didn't he? Did President Obama bow to Saudi King Abdullah at the G-20 meeting in London? That question is creating a bit of a dust-up in the blogosphere. The brouhaha reminds me of the tsk-tsking a few years back when President George W. Bush was photographed holding hands with then-Crown Prince Abdullah.
That said, the president of the United States does not bow to kings. He is not only the chief of government, he's our head of state -- the equal of any monarch. The White House says Obama didn't bow, that he "grasped (Abdullah's) hand with two hands and he's taller than King Abdullah."
Sorry, but a videotape on YouTube doesn't quite back that up. Obama clearly bends his body toward the Arabian monarch, and Obama doesn't grasp both the king's hands until he's standing straight up. As for the he's-taller argument, the 6-foot-1-inch Obama towers over a lot of people, so we'd have seen him bowing during handshakes many times if that were the explanation. Furthermore, the king had his hand extended, so Obama didn't have to reach down an inordinate amount to grab it.