The bowing, the pulling out the chair, the letting the other person go first..

[Peacetrain]

The President is displaying an old world courtesy to others, that 99.9% of Americans under the age of 40 have probably never witnessed.

Talk about a tempest in a teapot.

I find it humorous that the beer, tail gate party and car race set are so clueless.


Sometimes it is just embarrassing to read how juiced people get over old world courtesy.. My dear old departed Dad was the same way. He was almost 90 when he died.

[T Wolf]

1. For the party that talks about "traditional values" so much, pukes rarely show any courtesy

or even common decency to others.

With all the other "deficiencies" they personify, the line (paraphrased) that keeps coming up for me is, "I can't believe we're losing to these guys" (SNL Dukakis/Reagan debate skit).

Of course, the answer is - Money is Power - they have it and we don't.

[MUAD_DIB]

3. Yeah, the party of cultured traditional values...

:eyes:

[unblock]

9. ah, that was a classic snl line!

and it summed up so well the liberal dismay -- the rules no longer applied, somehow you could do everything right politically and still lose.

the snl debate was actually dukakis vs. bush (not reagan).

[leftynyc]

2. What did I miss?

Are the pukes still complaining about the bow in Japan?

[smalll]

6. Obama just bowed to ... the Mayor of Tampa --

[timeforpeace]

8. Maybe he's checking to see if his shoe is untied. The look on that Admiral's face is priceless.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Obama moves with dignity in these situations

And we should never, ever forget that the bar set for US President's treatment of foreign heads of state was set very low by President George HW Bush when he vomited with gusto all over the Prime Minister of Japan while seated at a State dinner. He blamed the drugs, actually, which is not all that helpful to the Republican argument. Just saying, barf trumps all. Hurl on a peer, anything your predecessors do pales in comparison. Even W managed not to puke on people.
Obama is flawless in diplomatic situations, because he is not intimidated by them. Because he knows he belongs there, both as President, and as a person independent of the office.

[Gman2]

5. Yeah, but that isnt fun enough. They attack him for courtesy, and call him uppity.

[glitch]

10. Just their mouths still talking, an artifact of their brains' exploding when he was elected. nt

[Mopar151]

7. Hey, wait a minute - broad brush much?

I've been around racing for over 30 years - I find folks at the track are polite and considerate as anyone these days. The NHMS NASCAR FANS TAILGATE FOR DAYS before the races here, and it took several years for the local cops to beleive that they drank so much and got along so well. Our hillclimb crew feeds random strangers, mountain bikers, and the town cops. (As Jesus fed the multitudes - it's good PR and builds loyalty) We import Yungeling beer to VT, and a homebrewer among us sometimes brings 2 or 3 varieties, and a cold plate tap setup.
Now if you are talking about Talladega infield fans - they are just not like other folks. As Minnie Pearl might say "We don;t let Brother out by hisself but a couple times a year!"
Don't go by those fake fan/wannabee jackets you see at Walmart - they're just goobers trying to look like somebody! Our VT state park rangers say we're among their favorite folks - we pick up after ourselves, and look after each other. Their least favorite? Church groups!!!

[Gin]

11. why did he bow? what have I missed?

[timeforpeace]

12. As stated in the OP, it's common "old world courtesy" to bow to the Mayor of Tampa.

[Mopar151]

16. This is the line I objected to

" find it humorous that the beer, tail gate party and car race set are so clueless."

Huh? what does that have to do with the price of peas? In a post supposedly about manners and courtesy?
I tried to use an example from folks I know well - sorry if it fell flat. Sadly, every spectator sport has it's share of drunken louts, but smearing any of the ones mentioned simply does'nt make sense, statistically or otherwise.

[Clio the Leo]

13. Cantor tweeted this a bit ago...

"For those who missed it, even President Obama admits that the GOP has real solutions."

to which I replied....

"It's called 'civility' Mr. Cantor. You all should try it."

[Autumn]

14. Those are things a Gentleman does,

that's what my Mother always said. It's good manners.

[SeattleGirl]

15. This car racing fan is also a huge fan of old world courtesy.

To me, that NEVER goes out of style, and I like it that Obama knows how to do it.

[Mopar151]

17. Two words to back up your statement

Ned Jarret. Thank you. It's been my experience that we make gentlemen out of ruffians, not the other way around.

[WinkyDink]

18. Hell in a hand-cart when Dockers started making '"fat pants".

[marshall]

19. I wondered if he might have learned the bowing in Indonesia

I have been through southeast Asia and bowing is very common there. It occured to me after seeing all the images of Obama bowing to people that it might also be a custom in Indonesia, where he spent many of his formative years.