Sunday, January 11, 2015

"Obama, Kerry absent from unity rally in Paris"

"The heads of Great Britain, Germany and Israel were there."

"But President Barack Obama didn't attend a unity march in Paris on Sunday, days after the deadly attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Nor did his secretary of state, John Kerry, who has deep ties to France."
Paris Unity March

28 comments:

Aridog said...

The hypocrite Mahmoud Abbas sure wriggled his way around that front rank, initially he was in the 2nd row behind the woman on the right with the red scarf, then beside her and in this photo moved over a bit toward Hollande. He is no "head of state" and did not belong in the front row, or the 2nd either.

I'm guessing we should be grateful Obama didn't go...he would likely have been an embarrassment. Same for Kerry or Biden.

That said, I doubt The Europeans have learned a thing and they'll all go back to the appeasement business as usual Monday morning. I wish not...but not holding my breath.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Obama reaches out to Cuba, snubs France.

Comfort our enemies snubs our friends.

Unknown said...

"...Obama did say that 'the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.'"

and Obama and Hillary and their mouth guards insisted the 9/11 murders in Benghazi were caused by a "video" and the videographer was arrested as a scapegoat for their story.

So - this is not a high level priority for Obama.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"Something we haven't seen in six years.. A large crowd of people that Obama wanted nothing to do with"... @redsteeze

rcommal said...

I love me some satire from my girlhood, I do.

edutcher said...

The last time he was the star of the show, Moochelle looked like she was going 3 falls out of 5 with the Danish PM, so ValJar made him stay home.

bagoh20 said...

IF choosing IHOP over Denny's for waffles isn't a powerful statement of solidarity with the world, then I don't know what you people expect from the man. Give him a break from your racism for just one day.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Shameful, isn't it.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Obama's snub will surely cost Democrats the cartoonist vote.

Unknown said...

That's just it. There's nothing for Obama to win, so he doesn't care.

ricpic said...

They lie! Obama was there. Way way back in the crowd. Leading from behind.

AllenS said...

Obama could care less what anyone thinks. He never has, and he never will.

Methadras said...

We are a nation that is being run by a president of political and social cowardice. Unbelievable you leftists elected this 5th columnist agitator and expected something miraculous. All we have now is a national embarrassment. I thought Jimmy Carter was an embarrassment to this country, but it turns out that he's been upstaged by orders of magnitude by Obama.

Besides, I think Obama thinks this was workplace violence, so really nothing to see here folks.

Aridog said...

Bagoh20 ... the preference for IHOP or Denny's show a distinct lack of taste...Waffle House is the place to go!

I never miss eating there when anywhere in the south. Pecan waffles ... uhmmmm uhmmmm. Mystery meat sausage and grits just add to the pleasure.

Aridog said...

Allen S...not only does he not care what anyone else thinks, he is irritated by their audacity to not think just like him. Those dang French for upstaging his rather mundane appearance in Detroit on the same day. The sheer gall of those Frogs!

edutcher said...

The biggest thing since WWII, but he would not have been the star, and he'd have to be there with all those colonialists.

White colonialists, at that.

Leland said...

I've never been a big fan of pageantry. I did HS and College band, so I've been apart of it, but that experience lead me to believe that many participants really have no sincerity that the pageantry suggests (e.g. Abbas). So, this snub by the O Administration doesn't rank high on my lists of wrongs. However, I was surprised to learn that Holder was in France and didn't attend, and that is a bit shocking. I mean this is low hanging fruit on the tree of international politics.

I'm betting this miss isn't because O doesn't believe in pageantry, but rather they didn't care about this one. I bet that way, because it would be consistent messaging that I've seen. I saw a report on Drudge that someone noted Obama just lost the moral standing for the Obama/US to be a world leader. I think to Obama, that's the point. He doesn't want the US to be a world leader. Its a form of isolationism that Ron or Rand Paul may preach, but Obama manages with hardly a complaint from the press.

Rabel said...

Simple physical cowardice would also serve to explain the President's failure to attend the march.

Without time for the normal Secret Service prep and the open air nature of the march he may have received a recommendation from SS not to go, but they work for him and the ultimate decision was his.

Sending Biden in his place would have highlighted Obama's absence and I wouldn't be surprised to learn one day that Obama tried to send Biden and Joe refused.

Likewise with Holder, who is on the way out and was unwilling to take the risk. Kerry, due to his location in India, at least had something of an excuse.

Cowardice also, in part, explains Obama's soft-handed approach to dealing with Islamic terrorism in general. He has a long post-presidency ahead of him and does not want to be at the top of fundamentalist Islam's hit list.

He has pulled the US back from the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, he refused to fight them in Syria, he treats Iran with kid gloves, and he is successfully keeping the drone war out of the news. He negotiates with terrorists over hostages and releases known Islamic fighters to return to the war. While doing these things he presents himself as a friend and supporter of Islam.

He may have some ideological sympathies for Islam due to his upbringing but at the root of his behavior is simply fear and avoidance of personal risk.

I expect that we'll soon see an anonymous effort by the White House to place blame for the entire fiasco at the feet of the Secret Service.

Amartel said...

All the Obamacultists are backpedaling their initial Je Suis Charlie free speech enthusiasm. Now they're throwing the Charlie people under the bus and sympathizing (because they have to sympathize with someone) with the Muslim police officer who died defending "people who offended his religion." Overlooking that he died defending (1) human life, and (2) free speech values. Also overlooking that he's dead and not here to tell us his opinion about the asshole terrorists who shot him while he was lying unarmed on the ground.

Why is everyone so surprised that Obama didn't attend a free speech unity rally? Free speech is antithetical to the statist Obama world view. Duh. It's something to which you give lip service, and nothing more. Go to Paris and hobnob with Bibi Netanyahu and those European losers? Feh. It's the playoffs.

OTOH, at least he doesn't go to this rally and while pushing university speech codes at home, like David Cameron, tory half wit.

Trooper York said...

Obama and Bill De Blasio are birds of a feather. They can not with a full heart take part in an event that they don't really agree with.

De Blasio couldn't show respect to the Cops who died so he came to the wake after it was over and just wasn't into the funeral. He only showed up because it would have been a pr disaster if he didn't.

Obama is not against Islam. He supports Islam in all of its aspects. Even it's radical jihardist aspect. He has done nothing but aid the Muslim Brotherhood and tried to sabotage Israel. He doesn't even want to term it terrorism because he deems it a valid expression of Islamic frustration. Just as he deems the riots in places like Ferguson the valid expression of the frustration of African Americans.

You have to realize something.

Obama is not on our side.

Amartel said...

Freedom of terrorist expression. Goes without saying.
Boom.

virgil xenophon said...

It's now been confirmed that Obama actually spent the day watching the NFL playoffs..

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Before they were apparently withdrawn, a comment at this Daily Mail article on Netanyahu being nagged at by the PM of Thanksgiving Turkey noted that along with Putin and Tony Abbott, he's just about the only leader with the balls to stand for anything. The commenter ranked Obama at the bottom with David Cameron as second.

The French told Netanyahu not to go and he basically said, "Sorry assholes. There's about a half million potential talented emigres to my country that you refuse to make feel protected, so I'll go and let them know that someone gives a damn about their not being murdered." And they couldn't do a thing about it. And he marched in their silly rally with the Palestinian dude six or seven linked arms away. And he caused the Ottoman caliph to throw a hissy-fit over it and show what a retarded bitch he is.

Now that's balls.

Obama might be told to reach down and find some of his own, but he'd confuse them for the white dimpled kind that he hits with a five iron.

Douche.

Leland said...

Why can't Obama just watch the NFL Playoffs?

Nobody, who paid any attention to him during his run in 2008, should be surprised by his decisions this weekend.

chickelit said...

Unity is anathema to Obama -- it has been his whole life. Now he's taking his shitty childhood out on the world.

Aridog said...

Rabel said ...

Without time for the normal Secret Service prep and the open air nature of the march he may have received a recommendation from SS not to go, but they work for him and the ultimate decision was his.

If that is his excuse he's a nitwit...half the entire French Army was positioned in front and behind, plus on every rooftop, out of TV camera view, of those world leaders on line. French government may be suspect, but their army really isn't.

Amartel said ...

Also overlooking that he's dead and not here to tell us his opinion about the asshole terrorists who shot him while he was lying unarmed on the ground.

I watched that officer's execution on Al Jazerra (who had good coverage) and he had his hands up...can we now say, for anyone, "hands up, don't shoot?"

Meanwhile, while Obama is being all non-judgmental, 2000 or so people in Nigeria have been killed by terrorists in the name of a perverted version of the Islamic faith. Not a word from the White House about that that I have heard or read.

I have friends in Africa, there with a security and intelligence business, and I worry about them. The husband is a Russian émigré to the USA, a former US Special Ops military officer, and I am confident he can handle what comes their way. Still...an idiot could get lucky.

Aridog said...

Anyone? Can we survive this schmuck for another 2 years? I wonder. I do.

I can deal with his arrogance and attitudes, even his ambivalence, just his ignorance scares the crap out of me...for my self and for those friends I still have who are in harms way.

I'm beginning to ask Muslim neighbors near and further away about what they think. Most are no worry...but what happens if I stumble upon an nut job? I am sure there are at least a few here. I'm pretty sure our dilettantes in Washington DC have never set out on such a simple endeavor...just ask regular folks what they think. Yet they presume to know everything. Go figure.

I've spent a lifetime being fascinated with people of different cultures and colors, and what they think, I cannot help that my curiosity overwhelms my common sense at times. I really do react to strangers as learning features. I figure I am just nuts.

Since I seldom mince words, how much risk am I facing? Don't know. Don't care either. I've said here I'd do it and I will. I worry more about our dog. I'll not let her out alone for a while I think. Any harm to her and "Houston, we have a problem." That could ruin my life, if not end it. She is more important, and far more innocent, than me.

Aridog said...

Just occurred to me that my promise to question my neighbors about the terminology regarding terrorism was not made here, to my knowledge anyway. I have said I'd ask around over a month or two to find out what actual ordinary Muslims think about the various terminology. Either way, I expect I will be advised of varying interpretations...and I will try to sort them out.