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The Daily Signal
White House
Faces Backlash for Absence at Anti-Terrorism Rally
Kelsey Harkness
January 12, 2015
The Obama administration admitted this afternoon that it erred in not
sending a more prominent official to the anti-terrorism march yesterday
in Paris. During a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh
Earnest said:
I think it’s fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher
profile to be there. … We agree that we should have sent someone with a
higher profile in addition to the ambassador to France.
The decision not to send any high-ranking officials to participate in
the rally has spurred heated criticism against the White House.
“Clearly, no effort was made by the White House to send a top official
to participate in the rally,” said Nile Gardiner, director of the
Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in India for a prior commitment,
called the criticisms “quibbling.” In an interview with NBC, he said:
We have offered, from the first moment, our intel, our law enforcement
and all of our efforts, and I really think that, you know, this is sort
of quibbling a little bit.
French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were among the
40-plus world leaders who gathered in a show of solidarity against the
attacks in France last week that left 17 dead.
President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John
Kerry were all absent, as were top Republicans or any 2016 possible
presidential candidates.
The White House did not comment on the president’s or vice president’s
whereabouts. Kerry announced a trip to Paris later this week to
reaffirm U.S. solidarity with its oldest ally.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was in Paris for a conference on
counterterrorism, also didn’t attend the rally. NBC News said he was
taping an interview for “Meet the Press” during the event, which
attracted more than 3.7 million people.
Rob Fournier, a National Journal senior political columnist, downplayed
the significance of the administration’s decision. Calling Obama’s
absence “a missed opportunity,” he urged the public not to “confuse a
mistake with something more meaningful.”
“America doesn’t need to march its president in the streets of Paris to
prove its resolve,” he wrote.
CNN’s Jake Tapper had a different take, writing, “I say this as an
American—not as a journalist, not as a representative of CNN—but as an
American: I was ashamed.”
Heritage’s Gardiner said America’s absence from the rally sent “all the
wrong signals” to both our friends and enemies.
The leader of the free should have at least made an effort to attend.
And if not, he could have sent the vice president or the secretary of
state.
Read this and other articles at The Daily Signal
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