Photos of US president's bow have critics in an uproar

WASHINGTON: News photographs of Barack Obama bowing to Japan's emperor last weekend have incensed the president's critics at home, who said the US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.

Days after Obama moved on to Singapore, China and Korea, Washington's punditocracy was still weighing whether or not the US president had disgraced his country two days earlier by having taken a deep bow at the waist while meeting Japan's Emperor Akihito.

Political talk shows have played and replayed the moment from the second day of Obama's weeklong Asia tour, which set the blogosphere on fire and chat show tongues wagging.