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Latest Undeserved Honor: Black Belt

Obama is now a master of tae kwon do, with 0 years practice

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 19, 2009 2:07 PM CST
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(Newser) – This has gone too far. First President Obama gets the Nobel Peace Prize “without actually producing any peace,” writes Andrew Malcolm. Now the South Korean president has awarded him a black belt in tae kwon do “after zero long years of study. What would Chuck Norris do?” Malcolm wonders in a Los Angeles Times blog post. “Probably bow. But never as low as Obama bowed for Japan's emperor last weekend.”

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.   (AP Photo)
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak chats with President Obama.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak chats with President Obama.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 59 comments
Bundy714
Oct 13, 2011 6:23 AM CDT
In 2001, George W. Bush received an honorary graduate degree from Yale University where he had earned his bachelor's degree in history in 1968. Also in 2001, George W. Bush was the recipient of an honorary doctor of law degree at the University of Notre Dame. And just to show it's no big deal, President Bush is the seventh president to be awarded an honorary degree by Notre Dame.  After these two examples, I didn't look anymore. There were probably others, but who cares? Does that satisfy your complaining because Obama got some honorary black belt?  Let me guess, it won't make a hill of beans difference, because it wasn't the honor that bothered you at all, it was the fact that you just wanted to smear Obama.
Bundy714
Oct 13, 2011 5:57 AM CDT
This honorary black belt is a joke, but one done by South Korea, not Obama.   But this whole getting upset because he was bowing to the emperor of Japan is also ridiculous.   Bowing in Japan is just like a handshake in the USA, its a polite form of greeting someone.  It has nothing to do with submission, it is a mutual sign of respect and greeting.  Of course if you are ignorant, you wouldn't know this and would make a big deal out of it.  Education is an awful thing to waste. Sometimes I think you tea party republicans would be no better than Pol Pot if you got in power. You would round up anyone with a higher education and do away with them. Of course, you would have no clue who or what Pol Pot is, and what he did, because you abhor education. Then you can teach creationism, deny global warming, and reduce taxes on the rich and wait for it to trickle down to the rest of you. Ignorant.
leafallsonelines
Dec 10, 2009 1:55 AM CST
Don't blame Obama for what other people do for him. It's not unusual for presidents to receive honorary awards. This is such a childish editorial.

 
South Korea • Nobel Peace Prize • martial arts • Lee Myung-bak • taekwondo • President Obama • state visit • tae kwon do • black belt • Obama tae kwon do • Obama Nobel Peace Prize

 

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