US President Bows To Japanese Emperor

President Barack Obama's deep bow to Japan's emperor this weekend symbolized a culture clash -- East versus West and Right versus Left.

Conservatives were incensed by the way the president greeted Emperor Akihito in Tokyo on Saturday. Unlike in April, when the White House insisted Obama's bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia wasn't a bow at all, even though videos of the bow clearly show that it was.

In a Los Angeles Times blog post titled "How Low Will He Go?," Andrew Malcolm predicted Obama "could receive some frowns back home" for bowing to the emperor. The response among conservative commentators went way beyond frowns.

"He means to teach Americans to bow before monarchs and tyrants," railed Power Line's Scott Johnson, who charged that Obama is sending a message that the U.S. "now willingly prostrates itself before the rest of the world." Obama has spent much of his first year in office traveling abroad and apologizing to other nations and cultures.

Some were especially angry that the man the president bowed to is the son of Emperor Hirohito, who led Japan during World War II. RedState's Mark Impomeni -- whose blog post included iconic photos of the Iwo Jima flag-raising and Japan's surrender along with the picture of Obama's bow -- called the president "an embarrassment" who's "bent on dishonoring" the service and sacrifice of Americans who fought against Japan.

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