Criticism of First Lady for Not Wearing Head Scarf; Shaking Hands With Saudi King

[bigtree]

from CNN:

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama made a quick stop in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to pay respects to the late King Abdullah, and to hold meetings with the new leader, King Salman bin Abdulaziz. But one aspect of the encounter stood out to reporters covering the receiving line at the palace: the first lady shook hands with the king.

Obama also did not cover her head, eschewing strict religious and cultural customs in Saudi Arabia...




bennydiego ?@bennydiego 2h2 hours ago
Maybe conservatives are so upset at #MichelleObama because she's not white?

[Telcontar]

1. Dan Quayle didnt bow to the new Japanese emperor either

The one act of his I wholeheartedly approve of.

Good for Michelle

[billhicks76]

49. Fox Gonna Criticize This Too?

This must really screw with their already screwy heads.

[Terra Alta]

2. and if Michelle had covered her head

conservatives would be attacking her for that, too. She can't win with them. I think Michelle did the right thing.

[yuiyoshida]

7. agree!

[CanonRay]

38. If she covered her head, they'd be saying she's a secret Muslim

[nxylas]

46. Exactly

Remember all the outrage when her husband bowed to some foreign leader, because 'murca?

[Terra Alta]

57. I remember that very well.

But when Dumbya kissed and held hands with that same foreign leader there wasn't a peep from the right. Go figure.

[leveymg]

58. Re: They'd be broadcasting it as evidence that Michelle is, also, a "secret Muslim."

Believe me, they would, and showing the same comparative photos of Pickles meeting Abdullah as proof.

[jwirr]

3. On Ed Schultz I also watched that she did not reach out to shake hands but waited for the Saudis

to make the first gesture. And if they did not but merely nodded she did likewise. She also walked behind the President to show respect for their customs.

This whole rw bs is once again lies and political propaganda. Also thank you for the pic of Mrs. W. I knew there would be one.

[Hekate]

27. Something I learned interacting with Orthodox men of any persuasion is to wait for them ...

...to put out their hand first. I find a warm smile and "Nice to meet you" usually works very well, and I'm never left with my hand hanging in the air.

Nowadays I do that as a matter of course because of arthritis -- helps to keep my joints from being crushed by someone's display of manliness.

Michelle, by the way, is always a gracious woman and does the socially correct thing wherever she finds herself.

[B2G]

4. Who exactly is criticizing her?

The linked article doesn't say.

[Aerows]

8. People who were going to criticize her

and President Obama no matter what they do.

[B2G]

10. The criticism is coming from Saudi Arabia, not the US

No big surprise.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/01/27/michelle-obama-forgoes-a-headscarf-and-sparks-a-backlash-in-saudi-arabia/

[JaneyVee]

45. Also, conservatives on social media.

[B2G]

47. Nope

Not seein it.

[JaneyVee]

48. Lucky you. I have.

[B2G]

50. What hashtag?

[JaneyVee]

52. You don't need a hashtag to write on social media.

[B2G]

53. Well do you have any links?

Who's doing the criticizing? Can you provide a link or at least a summary of what is being said?

[JaneyVee]

54. It's not really worth my time to go back and...

Find insignificant foolishness. Was just letting you know.

[B2G]

55. Oh, OK. nt

[closeupready]

11. Yeah, not sure about that either. Nobody directly involved has complained, so

there's no there there.

[closeupready]

13. Wait, I think I get it - yet another non-story that can be exploited to bash Islam.

By people without passports (no doubt), lol.

[tenderfoot]

35. Probably the same people who are upset with critics of Chris Kyle

The sociopathic murderer that got his.

[Takket]

5. "Critics took issue when he bowed in front of Saudi King Abdullah at a G20 meeting in 2009"

Sooooooooo bowing to their King is bad but not wearing a scarf is also bad.... I cannot reconcile these things in my head...

[Terra Alta]

15. apparently, it was wrong for Obama to bow to King Abdullah

but Dumbya held hands with him and even kissed him and it was all hunky-dory. Yeah, I can't wrap my head around it either.

[Telcontar]

24. Yeah, it was wrong to bow

It shows subservience. Foreign potentates should drop to their knees before an American President. The most powerful.men in history are the US Presidents since FDR. A litle respect would be nice

[Hekate]

30. Did you forget the sarcasm smiley?

[Telcontar]

36. No, why?

[Lochloosa]

41. In some cultures it's considered polite to bow to each other.

Subservience? Blahhhh

[Telcontar]

51. In some. Not in Saudi Arabia

[Terra Alta]

59. American Presidents are not royalty

Bowing is usually reserved for royalty or religious leaders, not democratically elected leaders. I hope you are being sarcastic here.

[Telcontar]

60. Americans bow to no one

We're the Hobbits of the planet

[Hekate]

61. I bow to elderly Japanese. It's only good manners. POTUS is very tall; in order to shake hands...

....with an Emperor a foot shorter than he is, he has to bend in any case. There's nothing subservient about our President, but he was raised in an Asian-inflected culture (not African American; he came to that as an adult) -- and I've noticed that he has exquisitely good manners, no matter who he is with.

[m-lekktor]

6. she's not a muslim so screw them. nt

[closeupready]

9. I'm fine with what she did. She's fine with what she did. The Saudi's are fine with what she did.

Not sure what the controversy is here.

[HappyMe]

12. Exactly.

Since everybody directly involved is okay with it - what's the problem.

[Terra Alta]

17. conservatives have a problem with it

because she's Michelle Obama and she's black.

But since conservatives aren't directly involved with it, you're right -- there is no problem.

[HappyMe]

18. Meh. No matter what she did

conservatives would have a problem with it.

[B2G]

20. The really don't, this is made up bullshit

Kudos to @FLOTUS for standing up for women & refusing to wear Sharia-mandated head-scarf in Saudi Arabia. Nicely done http://t.co/TlSw4Qc9KQ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 28, 2015


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/230999-cruz-praises-first-lady-on-head-scarf

[Demit]

21. No they don't. I challenge you to find anywhere on the net that shows they do.

Too many people on this thread have jumped to a wrong conclusion. It's embarrassing. It betrays a certain stupidity on the part of some DUers. Thank goodness for the DUers who took two minutes to investigate who it actually was who was complaining.

[B2G]

23. Yeah, the hashtag all of these reporters are referrencing

is a big giveaway as to who's really offended. LMAO.

"While the controversy began trending on Twitter with the hashtag #ميشيل_أوباما_سفور, which reportedly translates to Michelle_Obama_unveiled, that traditional covering isn't required of visitors and Obama is hardly the only Western woman to skip a head covering."

http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/231015-michelle-obama-not-the-first-lady-to-forego-head-covering

[Demit]

39. Even TWITCHY is giving her props.

I looked into it b/c I was curious. Any time a story leaves out something—and so many of them do these days, for what reason who knows—it sends me off to find the answer.

I found a blog post by Greta (Susteren?) pointing out that Laura Bush did it too (met the Saudi king without a scarf). She got lambasted in the comments for daring to compare Michelle Obama to Laura Bush for any reason, b/c Bush was just the wonderfullest classiest best-dressed first lady ever and Obama is the horriblest...but no one's criticism was based on Obama's not wearing a scarf. No one's.

I suspect deliberate vagueness in the story & I assume it was for clickbait reasons. Gotta keep the republiCON/DEMONcrat thing alive, get those eyeballs.

[B2G]

42. Yep, one issue we finally all agree on

Can't have that, can we?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. They can keep their damn Dark Ages morality that women are inferior and unclean.

The other part of that has to do with intercourse and goats.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. I am proud of her choice.

She speaks for me.

[NightWatcher]

19. shame SHAME

It's their tradition, not ours.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

32. That guy next to Condi

looks like he just smelled a sulfurous fart from the gates of Hell.

[hifiguy]

22. The critics can

[Douglas Carpenter]

25. given how sensitive Republicans are about respecting Islamic culture - criticism should be expected.

[B2G]

26. Uh, you forgot the sarcasm tag, right?

I mean, come on.

[Douglas Carpenter]

28. I was hoping it wouldn't be necessary this time

[B2G]

29. Lol. You just never know these days. nt

[treestar]

31. Saudis themselves surely don't expect foreign women

to agree with their stances on women in that way. Even they must be aware.

[truebluegreen]

34. Who is the woman standing behind Michelle Obama,

also with her head uncovered? Is anyone in either country criticizing her?

[Rex]

37. She is there with her husband the POTUS and has more elegance in her pinky toe

than all the royal court combined. This is once again, the RWing crap machine angered because Obama is playing an excellent game of Rope a Dope with their dumbass leaders.

IMO.

[gregcrawford]

40. CNN's copy is misleading...

... BIG surprise! Even though the Saudis are stuck in the 9th century, they do make exceptions for foreigners, especially heads of state, and do not require them to conform to the strict Wahabbist interpretation of Islam. Besides, if they were to visit this country and someone told them to lose the robes and kaffiyahs, there would be an international shit hemorrhage. Can't have it both ways, kids.

[tclambert]

43. An even bigger shocking shock! Barack Obama did not kiss the Saudis!

(Ewww, right on the lips!)

[muriel_volestrangler]

44. BBC: Michelle Obama headscarf controversy - do Saudis really care?

Although some foreign media reported a big social media controversy, an Arabic hashtag that translates as "Michelle Obama with no headscarf" or "Michelle Obama immodesty" was in fact tweeted about 2,500 times - not a small number, but not overwhelming in a country with a relatively high Twitter following.

And significantly, this "backlash" was dwarfed by another tag related to the US President's visit to the kingdom. "King Salman leaves Obama to pray" attracted more than 170,000 messages. Saudis used this slogan to show their warm admiration for new King Salman leaving during the Obamas' visit to pray, as shown in a news report that was widely viewed on YouTube. "This is the man who left the leader of the most important country in the world to pray," a Saudi tweeted.

BBC Monitoring, which was tracking the criticism of Michelle Obama, said most tweeters from the Arab world using "Michelle Obama with no headscarf" were making fun of the situation and of conservative Saudi regulations. Some were sharing pictures of a Michelle Obama wearing a headscarf during a trip to Malaysia in 2010, while others used the tag to call for more freedoms in the kingdom.

Far fewer voices were angry at the first lady's uncovered head, and a huge number of tweets came from US users slamming Saudi traditions. In fact only 37% of the tweets using the "Michelle Obama with no headscarf" tag came from Saudi at all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-31019565

[closeupready]

56. Just as I thought - this is a non-story being exploited by Islamophobes in order

to slam Islam, just as they do on every single other issue in the news that, in some way, involves a muslim or Islam.

It's not controversial in KSA, or anywhere else in the muslim world.

[bluestateguy]

62. It seems that all that criticism is from abroad or from Muslims

If anything, I've seen conservatives in the US praise her for not covering up.

[bigtree]

63. you're right. Glad to wake up (night worker) and see her constant critics backed off

...and not echoing initial reactions by SOME conservatives this morning. So, they got this one thing right. Good for them.

Saudi twitter, not so much...par for them.