Whataboutism meets Wahabism: I never understood why conservatives got so het up about Obama. He was black. They expected him to bow.

Trump bows down to get a medal from the Saudi King and throws in a little curtsy. pic.twitter.com/UgLfv00Lef

— Kat 4 Obama (@Kat4Obama) May 20, 2017

The Telegraph, April 8, 2009:



The White House denied that the president bowed during a meeting on the sidelines of the London conference, though photographs show Mr Obama at least stooped significantly before the 84-year-old monarch.


"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," an Obama aide told Politico.com.

The Washington Times called the alleged bow a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate", which ran contrary to American tradition of not deferring to royalty.

"By bending over to show greater respect to Islam, the US president belittled the power and independence of the United States," the paper said in an editorial. "Such an act is a traditional obeisance befitting a king's subjects, not his peer."

"American presidents do not bow before foreign dignitaries, whether they are princes, kings, or emperors," said the Weekly Standard's blog.