This deep bow is – very appropriately – a sign of respect for another person, another culture – regardless of friend or foe. Whatever you want to do to each other in America, do it – but when in Rome … BO did not defer, he didn’t give anything up, and neither did he display the arrogance that this post would seemingly prefer is portrayed to the rest of the world. When foreign leaders come to the US, they do not bow, they do not kiss hands, they shake the hand – for that is the American custom, the American sign of respect. You know it would be different if there were another official greeting in place. The expectancy of respect around the world is true regardless of who you are – it’s a sign of being a gentleman (or a lady in other cases), a portrayal of etiquette, the sign of a true leader (and I do not refer to BO or anyone specifically here).

If we want to discuss disrespect, Michelle Obama was inappropriate, for one does not do to the Queen of England such that she did and is repeated in the article – that is a sign of disrespect, of ignorance of international etiquette. BO’s purpose, however, be what it may, is far from unprecedented. The previous occupant of the White House achieved significant effort in the “diminishment of the United States at home and abroad”. I believe this not to be intentional but more through ignorance, as per Michelle Obama. BO has some work to do to restore the respect of the US around the world, and that is a fine line to walk with that on one side and freeworld leadership on the other. Regardless of what Americans may think about George Bush, the truth for the rest of the world sits outside these shores, and I have experienced it in more than my own country.

It is also inappropriate to continue saying that, without the US, there would be no Europe. Are we forever going to hear this as a defence for right wing or left wing views or is the world going to move on? I absolutely acknowledge history, but I’m not going to cower to the power of something that has previously happened, that I can do nothing about, and has so oft been acknowledged before. Let it go, move on – deal with the present for we cannot change the past.

It really is pointless talking about Europeans existing because of the US – when one considers that the US exists because of Europeans. Should we consider the ancestry of 20% German or the volume of Irish and Italian and the impact of those ancestors on America? No – move on – we are who we are and that requires respect for others. For what it’s worth, Britain just a couple of years ago finally paid off the monetary debt that the US lumbered it with for “talking care of business” during WWII. As with so many things over here, it too often comes down to hard cash.

The article presented in the LA times was talking just for the sake of talking, and BO may not be the saviour so many had hoped for (and that happens to also be my personal belief) – but don’t let’s get our knickers in a twist over something such as a display of good manners.