More reader comments about President Obama's bow to Japan's emperor

November 17, 2009 | 11:29 pm

Many of the initial responses to the blog post about President Obama’s bow to the emperor of Japan last weekend were -- critical would be too tame a word -- downright searing in their comments.

But in the last few days, commenters came out of the woodwork supporting the president’s gesture of respect, however overdone or flawed, or condemning those who were quick to cast the first stone criticizing the gesture as a gaffe. Yet even with this show of patriotism, the disapproving comments have not ceased.

In the spirit of this blog’s traditional purpose -- celebrating and printing our readers' opinions -- we have printed 10 comments below from those more tolerant of the gesture.

Frank Morgan wrote: Respect for others is a great virtue which I rejoice to see in our President.

Jayaprakash wrote: It is a diplomatic win over Japan's hearts by this simple action. Obama is more diplomatic than we think.

Zach wrote: A bow? People are calling for impeachment over a bow?!

Joe Bell wrote: The handshake/bow was a good mixture I think, as it is custmary for Americans to shake hands when greeted, and Japanese to bow when greeted, so a mixture of the two was mutualy respectable. Americans are too proud, and in this day and age, we have no right to be.

konnichiwa wrote: I love how there are a ton of people here throwing around casual racism and then claiming Obama is the one ruining the United States because he bowed to another official. It seems that a sign of respect clearly upsets a lot of folks in the good ol' US of A

scottosan wrote: Obama! Don't shake hands if your going to bow... either shake hands and don't bow or bow and don't shake hands and keep your hands at your sides…I hate your morals and everything else that you stand for but hey, at least you tried.

Frederico Franca wrote: THERE'S NO LONGER ROOM FOR YOUR ATIQUATED POINTS OF VIEW! OPEN YOUR EYES! TAKE A LOOK A YOUR PRESIDENT ICONOCLAST GESTURE AND GET PROUD!

Rick Cain wrote: Uhm, Japan is an ally. We should respect their emperor. There's no need for cold war style posturing. Heck Donald Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam Hussein, now THAT was embarassing in retrospect.

Dee wrote: Courtesy doesn't cost a thing, and anyone with just a tiny bit of knowledge of Asian courtesy would recognize the bow as being courteous.

Pedeye wrote: Finally a president whose biggest foreign policy gaffes are showing too much respect for others. Beats getting more soldiers killed for dubious or manufactured WMD reasons.

You can leave your own comments below.

-- Kelsey Ramos