President Barack Obama greets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia before the official photo of G20 leaders with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at London's Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, April 1, 2009. (AP Photo/John Stillwell)
(CNSNews.com) – The White House on Thursday offered a sarcastic response to yet another question about President Barack Obama bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia at the G20 summit last week.
 
“Did he bow or didn’t he?” a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Thursday.
 
No, I think he bent over…with both hands to shake his hand,” Gibbs said.
 
No, interjected the reporter -- the video shows Obama shaking with one hand.
 
Gibbs noted that the two men met a week ago.
 
Yes, but Obama’s apparent bow to Saudi King Abdullah is still in the news, the reporter told Gibbs.
 
“I can only imagine it is of great cause and concern for many people struggling with the economy,” Gibbs said in his final word to the reporter.
 
As seen on YouTube, Obama bowed from the waist upon meeting Saudi King Abdullah.
 
“Such an act is a traditional obeisance befitting a king's subjects, not his peer,” said the Washington Times in an editorial. “There is no precedent for U.S. presidents bowing to Saudi or any other royals.”
 
On Wednesday, a White House official told Politico.com that Obama did not bow to the king: “He grasped with two hands, and he’s taller than King Abdullah,” Politico quoted the official as saying.
 
On “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, Geraldo Rivera offered the opinion that Obama’s bow was the reflexive instinct of someone raised in the Muslim tradition – “a sign of affection and respect” from a younger man to an older man.
 
Obama’s father was an African Muslim, his mother an American Christian. Obama worships as a Christian.