President Dippy Duck

By Zamboni

Well! No sooner had we cats twitted the folks over at Free Republic for implying that Michelle Obama should have curtsied to the Queen, than a brouhaha erupted over in that paranoid little corner of the Internet about whether the President bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia at the G20.

Our first reaction was a roll of the eyes, because we remember — and none too fondly, we might add — the days of George W. Bush holding King Abdullah's hand, and kissing him on both cheeks, and (yes) bowing to receive a medal from him. Funny how popular sitting on a ton of oil will make you.

But since the wingnuts were simply apoplectic over the Obama incident — and since we'd just quoted Miss Manners that no American ever bows or curtsies to a foreign monarch — we figured we'd better check out the video.

Well, we've watched it a couple of hundred times, and we just can't figure out what the President is doing. Unfortunately, there's somebody standing between him and the camera. But he's moving like one of those drinking-bird gizmos we remember from high school science class.

Therefore, our conclusion is that the President deserves a HISS for this. While we're happy that the Freepers are wasting their time fussing about it, we'd advise Mr. Obama to leave this particular body language home next time.