Kings, queens and emperors are an anachronism. This is the twenty-first century and divine right has gone the way of the horse drawn carriage.

That is what makes this disturbing trend by Barack Obama to bow to royalty all the more disconcerting.

First, Obama bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. However, the White House denied that, giving the explanation that Obama is much taller than Abdullah and had to lean over towards him or else was picking up something off the floor. Neither explanation is worth buying. It was a bow, which is even more of a supplicant act than George Bush’s kissing and hand-holding with Abdullah.

Now, Obama has done it again, bowing to Japan’s Emperor and his wife.

Obama is not a subject to either of these monarchs. He is a citizen of the United States and a President. As a Head of State, protocol dictates that Obama not bow.

Besides it appears that he is being selective in his bowing. When meeting with Queen Elizabeth, Obama did not bow but gave a slight nod of the head. Michelle Obama actually tapped the Queen on the shoulder to get her attention, which is a breach of protocol but in my book is just fine for a nation that shed its status as subservient subjects to a monarch for the sovereignty of citizenship.