I think that a person in the office should have respect for the office. The people not in the office should judge the officeholder.
To me, Bush is exactly the same as any other celebrity I don’t respect. I wouldn’t want to shake Roman Polanski’s hand, just to pick a famous person at random.
Hell yeah I would shake his hand and I would do it with a big grin and a thumbs up. What a picture opportunity. Still think he’s a god-awful, immoral, self-serving monster of a president, but hey, don’t know how many other chances I’ll get to shake hands with one of the most powerful people in the world.
Yeah, Princess Margaret was much more concerned with stuff like that than the Queen. From what I’ve heard all the bobbing of heads up and down makes some of the Royals a bit queasy.
D. It is precisely because I do respect the office of the president that I world refuse to shake Bush’s hand. Respect is something that has to be earned, and W. has earned my contempt by doing more to injure this country than any president since, well, since all of them.
“Well, I know he’s a racist windbag about to invade Poland and drag my country into a war that will get millions of us and 10s of millions of others killed, but I have enough respect for the office of The Chancellor that I’d shake his hand.”
Yeah, I made the comparison.
I suspect that the main players in the Royal Family have become aware of the need for things like media management. Our old Queen can get by on longevity and respect (the transition from teenage revolutionary to reluctant monarchist is a common one here, I think and largely due to her Maj who after all wasn’t born to the role but has done the figurehead thing wonderfully). Charles will be at most a short term King. I think that there is also a lot of sympathy for the two young Princes - Harry is the stoned nutter who is going to a war zone and will provide much gossip in years to come, and William is the future King who seems to be in love with a nice girl.
It’s not the way that anyone would set up a country from scratch, but the various parts of the UK are surprisingly bound to the orthodox and willing to let the heterodox run free.
B. I’d hope that his handshake wasn’t anything like the KOTH episode made it out to be. I hate those kind of handshakes.
Can’t I just give him a neck rub instead?
If I had full presence of mind, I’d just firmly but politely say “No, thank you.” I guess that’s about a C+ with a little B thrown in.
If caught off guard or if he shook my hand anyway, I’d wash as soon as possible. God knows how many other hands he would have shaken that day.
I’m another B. Political disagreement is no excuse for incivility or disrespect.
Being President doesn’t make you a saint, nor does shaking someone’s hand mean that you are giving them a ringing endoresement. It is, however, protocol. And if I found myself in the presence of a head of state or a respected religious figure, then I’d follow protocol. To do otherwise would be gauche. And, of course, if I didn’t want to shake his hand based on some personal repugnance, then I would excuse myself prior to him offering up his hand.
Perhaps it’s no excuse for incivility when you’re dealing with your next-door neighbor. But when you’re dealing with someone who has the power to actually make and enforce policy, I see nothing wrong with making your disapproval known. And *respect * is supposed to be mutual. When he shows me that he has some respect for anything that I believe, I’ll offer him the same courtesy.
Non-Catholics are not expected to kiss the Pope’s Ring and non-Commonwealth citizens are not expected to bow to the Queen. She toured the USS Ranger before I served on her. Sailor’s saluted her, they did not bow.
According to Struan, it would appear even British citizens have no need to bow to her.
Remember part of America being America is we do not have nobility and royal families. This is one of the problems I actually have with the Bush’s and Kennedy’s.
Jim
The point is moot for me – because of my personal beliefs, I would never be in a situaton in which I would be offered the president’s hand to shake. At least, not this president’s hand.
I am a Catholic. And I know that non-Brits used to bow before royals. Tennis players competing at Wimbledon curtsied or bowed before the royal box after they came out of the locker room. If protocol has, indeed, changed, then I would follow it.
Is it protocol for officers to salute all heads of state?
I don’t hate George Bush, but I do think he’s done a pretty lousy job as president, so I guess I’m somewhere between b) and c).
And I did shake his hand once, but that was before he’d been in office long enough to screw things up too badly.
Well, then I understand the Pope part. It makes sense.
As far as the Queen, I only know the that the Ship’s Officers and Men saluted her. No one bowed, not even the Admiral or the Captain.
Jim
Well then, please don’t take my comment about your Pope personally. I’ve nothing against Catholics as individuals, I just had a bad experience with a Pope back on October 13, 1307 (it was a Friday, as I recall).
Oh, an undead Templar, are you?
“Undead” is such an ugly word.
Before that, tho - for Phaoroh’s little kiddies I built all the pyramiddies
And to the Sahara carried all the sand
C. I despise Mr. Bush with the heat of a thousand cliches, but I’m an American and he is my duly elected president. I will treat him with respect, if necessary physically defend him from harm, and, of course, mock his policies for the idiotically confections of bilirubin they are.