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Correspondence with a UMA professor about George W. Bush

 Hello professor,

I was wondering if you remember when President Bush tried to give German Chancellor Angela Merkela back rub. Was that a cultural clash, or a misunderstanding? Or does she just find him incredibly annoying?

In case you need a reminder,

It's not exactly "Presidents Gone Wild!" but for the normally staid Group of Eight Summit, a video of President Bush sidling behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel and delivering an impromptu neck rub is, well, as wild as it gets.

The scene, captured by a Russian TV camera, hit the Internet like a summer wildfire this week, and it may be most memorable for the German chancellor's reaction. Bush applies his hands to Merkel's shoulders and neck while she's speaking with Italian Prime Minister Romano
Prodi; the chancellor hunches her shoulders, then throws her hands up to stop the unexpected massage with a wan smile -- and an expression that can best be translated as "Ewwww."

Dear John,

       I recall the incident vividly. In fact the former Bureau Chief and Senior White House correspondent for the ARD (German NPR) called me and asked me "if the man had gone out of his mind," meaning President Bush, or is this normative American behavior? Other incidents such as VP Cheney wearing a military Parka at the Auschwitz 
Concentration camp memorial (as opposed to Black like every other dignitary), as well as shaking hands with gloves on were questions he had regarding normative American behavior. The Germans were attempting to assess whether or not Americans really don't know any better, or are we just arrogant and feel we can do what we like.  Getting back to your original issue, such behavior would be rude in our culture, not to mention probably constitute a "battery" in most common law states.  
Add to that "low class" and you will have the German visceral response to President Bush's behavior. Many Presidents have committed huge behavioral errors abroad. It never ceases to amaze me that the most powerful person in the world, who has virtually unlimited resources, 
can not find a person to tell them how to to behave themselves in a foreign culture. 

Posted by: Johntk1 at 18:16 | link | comments (1)
politics