A bow is a bow is a bow. We can split hairs and say he bowed to receive a medal if you like — but I see no difference whatsoever between that kind of bow and what Barack Obama did.

When an Olympic athlete lowers his head to receive his medal, he is not “bowing” in the way the subject of a monarch bows to acknowledge the latter’s authority over him. Certainly one can object to the propriety of our President receiving any award from another country; the Constitution provides that no government official can accept any gift from a foreign government without approval of Congress. I presume then that President Bush received that approval, or some Representative or other would have used it as a pretext for impeachment.

Obama bent from the waist and abased himself. It was embarrassing. Saying “Well, Bush did it too!”, even if it were true, would make it no less embarrassing