DECORUM as defined by Webster’s: DECO’RUM, n. [L. to become.] 1. Propriety of speech or behavior; suitableness of speech and behavior, to one’s own character, and to the characters present, or to the place and occasion; seemliness; decency; opposed to rudeness, licentiousness, or levity. To speak and behave with decorum is essential to good breeding.  2.  In architecture, the suitableness of a building, and of its parts and ornaments, to its place and uses.

Reward For Two Years In Jamaica With VSO

Reward For Two Years In Jamaica With VSO

This invitation to break bread and enjoy fellowship with the Queen of England (oops! “Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh”) is not posted here for purposes of bragging rights or “show-off” nor for any other reason than that with which you are about to be enlightened forthwith (just click on the image, by the way, and the one below, for enlargement to make it easier on the eyes). And let me also state right up front, that this is not an indictment upon any singular person, other than one who is constantly in the public eye, and should know better about diplomatic decorum and presidential civility; especially when holding the highest office on the planet. Since his inauguration in January 2009, it is obvious in his behaviors on official business, that Barack Hussein Obama has either not been schooled, or refused to be schooled, in diplomatic manners, behavior, decorum, and servitude.

In a revealing article in Friday’s FrontPageMagazine, Public Relations Guru Ronn Torossian, states the obvious, and lists the reasons, why the current president of the United States is pulling the nation down, and not simply with bad policy legislation. Diplomatic decorum and its implications and effect, is as important to the office as a decision to go to war, or to close down the coal industry, to bring a nation to its knees with bad economic policies, or to close the borders to illegal immigrants. How one relates to, and treats deferentially, the leaders and dignitaries of one’s own nation and government, or another sovereign nation, says a lot about one’s own personal characteristics and standards. Unfortunately on this scale of influence, We The People of the United States are being very much underserved by the current incumbent.

Since coming into office, President Barack Obama has continually made terrible decisions on the diplomatic front – both domestically and internationally – and has left America in a worse place than when he started.  In his recent China visit last week for instance, Obama chewed gum and outraged Chinese citizens with his behavior, and this has been a constant throughout his administration (feet on the desks and tables in the Oval Office for instance) and is a startling behavior that sends exactly the wrong message to young and old of all skin color, nationalities and denominations. Some meaningful quotes on the absolute failures of Obama when it has come to diplomacy:

That's an antique desk with history he is demeaning..

That’s an antique desk with history he is demeaning..

  • “As far as is known, Obama became the first President, the first Commander-in-Chief, not to salute the living recipient of the Medal of Honor after presenting the medal.” ~ Rees Lloyd
  • “Obama is inexperienced and lacks a proper understanding of how he should handle himself as President.” ~ Casey Carmical
  • “Who can forget the moment last year when Obama took a selfie during a memorial service for anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela?” ~ Amie Parnes
  • “However one feels politically, it is questionable to salute Marines while holding a coffee cup – Could not someone have held it for him?” ~ Eric Vainer
  • “The GOP is taking the public outrage over Obama’s salute to Marines while holding a coffee cup and running with it.” ~ Lisa Fine
  • “In an unprecedented breach of diplomatic etiquette, President Obama once again sandbagged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.” ~ Isi Leibler
  • “President Obama is the most liberal and most incompetent president in my lifetime ever since Jimmy Carter.” ~ Bobby Jindal
  • “It was seen as a slap in the face when Obama got out of his U.S. supplied transportation chewing gum.” ~ Roz Zurko
  • “To see a leader like Bibi Netanyahu treated so shabbily by someone [Obama] who treats us the same way was too much to bear.” ~ William A. Jacobson
  • “Obama’s awkward encounter with Akihito – bows are not meant to accompany physical contact – is not the first time the president has been criticized for his greeting of a foreign leader: Critics accused him of genuflecting to Saudi King Abdullah at a world economic summit this year.” ~ Foster Klug
Obama slovenly...

Obama slovenly…

  • “Yes, President Obama has just gifted the queen an iPod.” ~ Chris Matyszczyk
  • “Obama presented former Prime Minister Gordon Brown with DVDs of American films that couldn’t be played on British machines. Our classy president gave the queen an iPod loaded with his speeches.” ~ Robert Hanusa
  • “Instead of rendering the traditional salute, after fumbling as if all-thumbs in trying to affix the blue-ribboned Medal of Honor, Obama, equally awkwardly, tried to ‘hug’ the Sergeant. Yes, a ‘hug’ for the soldier who remained at attention with eyes front in military bearing.”                                                                                   ~ Rees Lloyd
  • “Mr. Obama’s manners at the event were on a par with those of Clark Griswold’s cousin Eddie from the 1989 movie Christmas Vacation.” ~ Larry Clifton
  • “Barack Obama makes us look patronizing, rude, and condescending.” ~ Doug Wead
  • “Gordon Brown has been snubbed repeatedly by Barack Obama during his trip to the United States, as the fall-out from the release of the Lockerbie bomber appeared to have left ‘the special relationship’ at its lowest ebb for nearly 20 years.” ~ Andrew Porter
  • “What is also more consistent with the Limbaugh and D’Souza theses are such personal quirks as Obama’s gross rudeness to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House and his otherwise inexplicable public debasement of himself and the United States by bowing low to other foreign leaders.” ~ Thomas SowellClass vs Crass..
  • “One of the important considerations for the leader of the free world has to be inter-personnel relations.” ~ Jonah Engler
  • “We made this meeting so luxurious, with singing and dancing, but see Obama, stepping out of his car chewing gum like an idler.” ~ Yin Hong
  • “He [Obama] made the mistake of both shaking hands and bowing at the same time, a big breach of etiquette. The truth was that he was supposed to choose one or the other.” ~ David E. Sanger
  • “President Obama has very poor personal relations with most world leaders.” ~ Ed Lasky
  • “But the quintessential dissing of our mother country had to be Obama’s return of a bust of Winston Churchill bestowed on the U.S. by former Prime Minister Tony Blair after 9/11.” ~ Robert Hanusa
  • “Benjamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family.” ~ Adrian Blomfield
Invite Protocol...

Invite Protocol…

As an adjunct to the Royal Invitation posted above, here’s the same invite, with a part of the protocol listing, which generally accompanies such invitations at this level. Note the absolute attention to detail, particularly as it relates to timing. Were I of a temptation to really bore you, I could post the entire protocol list which includes such mundane topics as *  how one refers to Her Majesty, and His Royal Highness * one does not speak to the Royal Couple without first being addressed by their Royal Highnesses * ladies are expected to curtsy gently upon being addressed by Her Majesty, and to arise fully before answering Her Majesty’s enquiry * gentlemen shall be suitably attired for a Royal Occasion, and will stand erect, with both hands behind the back, gently held together in a relaxed manner * eye contact is to be fully expected when in the immediate company of the Royal Couple * gentlemen can be expected to tilt the head gently as Her Majesty and His Royal Highness move on to another group * under no circumstances, liable to being escorted away and held in quarantine until Her Majesty and His Royal Highness have departed the event, does one lay hands upon the Royal Couple for any reason whatsoever * and so on, and so on, and so forth…

That a sitting president of the United States has not been schooled in the etiquette of civility and diplomacy, of local and international customs and habits (or that he refused it because of his narcissistic ascendancy, since “he knows better than anybody else”) is simply  not acceptable. As Chief Ambassador of his nation to the world, the most powerful position on the planet demands excellence in every part of duty, since he is representing not only himself, but the entire character and civility of the nation.

Otherwise you beget embarrassments the likes of …

In closing, I was a 22-year-old about-to-be engineering college grad, and rising professional soccer player at the time I was invited to (for most people) this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Subsequently I met the Duke of Edinburgh on a separate occasion while living in Toronto, and as sharp a wit and memory you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere. Her Majesty the Queen, was as gracious in patience and temperament as any person could put themselves out to be to calm the nerves and excitement of a returning volunteer about to meet the Queen of England. When she and the Duke appeared before us in our assigned group of six, it was almost difficult to speak, as she was the most beautiful of China dolls that any of us had ever seen – I believe her official height is 5′ 4″ – while the Duke and I (6′ 2″) stood shoulder to shoulder. An experience never to be forgotten.

An experience the current president of the United States could well have benefitted from, were he composed of a different demeanor. Or as Ronn Torossian expresses it at the end of his piece: “This NY PR firm owner has said it before and shall say it again – Obama’s legacy is one of disaster.”

Young patriot ...

Young patriot …

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, an indisputable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers. ~ John Adams

 

Related reading from Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal right here …