President Obama not at Paris Rally

I don't know how I feel about this. I sort of wanted to see him there. But it would have caused crap if he had shown up. Like he was horning in on something.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11339477/US-media-questions-why-neither-Barack-Obama-nor-top-US-officials-attended-Paris-Charlie-Hebdo-rally.html

I noted he wasn't there.  Did I see something about John Kerry coming over to ... do something?

I think Kerry was/is in India.  Biden maybe?  Though I think he was in Texas for a previously scheduled event.

I dont know, I am willing to give US folks a pass on this.  1) the distance and schedule shuffling it would take for someone to fly out there, make the rally, take some photos, and fly back for what, a few hours?  2) The security concerns would have been crazy for anyone high ranking and it would have been a very tempting situation for some nutso to off a US official in such a situation. 

I tend to think this is a no win situation for a high ranking politician.  Don't go and people complain about the rebuff, go and it's a photo op or some other politically motivated reason.  It does seem odd that there wasn't more of a US presence though....

Oh, and I did notice this in the article ....

"Sad that 50 world leaders could show solidarity in Paris but President Obama refused to participate. The cowardice continues," tweeted Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the US House of Representatives, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.


Hmmmmm, call me cynical, but I question the motivation behind that particular comment. 

The White House has stated they were wrong not to send someone other than the US Ambassador.

I sort of agree with Becca.  I think it's a 'damned if we do, damned if we don't' scenario for any U.S. president; if they stay away, they're insensitive isolationists, and if they show up, they're imperialist attention-seekers.

I'd say it's even worse for Obama, because whatever criticism he faces from abroad, the domestic crap-storm will be worse by at least a couple of orders of magnitude.  If he goes, he's a money wasting, communist, elitist Europhile.  If he doesn't, he's an inept coward.