Why Wouldn't Mordecai Bow?

In Esther 3 we read about Haman's horrible plot to destroy all the Jews because Mordecai wouldn't bow down to pay him honor as the king had commanded all to do. So why wouldn't Mordecai bow to Haman? It wasn't that the Jews considered this idolatry; it was fine to pay leaders due honor. Some interpret the name of Haman in 3:1, "Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite," to mean he was an Amalekite. The Amelekites had attacked Israel as they fled from Egypt, so God had commanded that the Israelites "blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven" (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). The People's Bible isn't so sure about this interpretation. Instead it says, "As is so often the case in the book of Esther, the actions of the participants are simply reported without any analysis or moral evaluation of their motives Nothing in the text indicates whether Mordecai's actions were justified or were a case of misguided zeal. We simply learn how the crisis for the Jewish people came about  . . . There can be no uncertainty, however, about the attitude and motivation of Haman. He responded with irrational hatred, totally out of proportion to the apparent offense."