They'd accuse him of grandstanding.

Nothing he ever does would please them.

Why bother?

It doesn't matter what POTUS does, the republicans will say he should have done something else. It's so tiring. I don't know how the people who are so outraged with everything POTUS does every day aren't completely exhausted.

at Obama for getting up in the morning. They've been mad at Obama at least since January 20, 2009 and perhaps longer. If they don't have an actual reason for being pissed they'll make up one. The right wing "outrage" is so routine I don't know why it's still considered news.

Who in the flying fuck in the Democratic party should care how the GOP and Fox News are going to react. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't means he should act, just fucking act.

They don't care about how the Democratic party is going to react to their stuff.

Obama, or his base, or both seem to care too damned much what the GOP and Fox News are thinking. That's why they control the House and the Senate.

He got a Nobel Peace Prize. This was Paris' 9/11. As a politician, he should have sent a higher ranking US government representative to be present at that photo op. He should have done it not to grandstand. He should have done it not to appease the GOP. He should have done it because it is just smart politics and the US needs some cache with the NSA spying on our European allies, the CIA torture memo's, and our continued drone strikes which are not helping to quell extremism in the Middle East.

Obama DID act. He acted by not going to Paris, and by not sending Joe Biden to Paris.

"Obama, or his base, or both seem to care too damned much what the GOP and Fox News are thinking."

If they cared what the GOP and FOX-News are thinking, they would obviously have acted in the way that the GOP and FOX-News would have found acceptable. They didn't.

"As a politician, he should have sent a higher ranking US government representative ... He should have done it because it is just smart politics and the US needs some cache ..."

In other words, Obama should have done EXACTLY what the GOP and FOX-News are saying he should have done.

How dare he be spineless enough to NOT do THEIR bidding?

by the White House apology for not sending a higher ranking official.

Politically the WH screwed up. They know it. The GOP and Fox News knows it. Funny that you and so many Democrats don't know it yet.

So now he is officially eating crow. Yeah, that was definitely a bold move on his part. And he definitely didn't fall into any political traps there.

Take off your blinders.

Which is why I recognize people like yourself without any effort.

So what do you thinking you know and recognize about me.

It's on shit like this and not on anything of substance that really affects anybody.

However, it is still a political faux pas that could have been avoided.

Now as others have pointed out besides me, it is in the news cycle.

Additionally, denying its political reality by so many here runs the real risk of extending its media cycle further.

Yeah, didn't think so.

Obama currently is. I am capable of seeing both as making political blunders.

So your real point is?

And there was no on posting at DU whining about it either.

but I read it every day.

What was on DU was constant daily attacks (not that I disagreed with them of Bush). Some were well argued. Some were as banal as those from the Right today on Obama.

This is politics and this situation is not analogous with Bush. This is about Obama and his political blunder today.

If he had attended the fake march those that did go participated in, people would be here bitching about what a blunder that was. The man just can't get a break with conservatives or some DU'ers.

and the opposition party are going to 'bitch' no matter what Obama does.

Unfortunately, many here believe apparently that because of this that non-action is the best course or to go with what this group is pushing.

Those here who are critical like myself of this political blunder recognize the situation as it is. If he had gone himself, I would not have criticized the move in the least. I would say bravo! If he had sent Biden or told Holder, who was in Paris, get over to that 'fake march', I would not have criticized that either.

That 'fake march' was a political photo op. History is replete with these 'fake' events. That is the nature of politics. Some days I wonder if many here have ever taken a political science course.

Finally, why should we ever give any of our politicians a 'break'? These men and women are adults. They want to be in these leadership roles. They campaign for them. They should be held to task for every action they take that represents us - both conservatives and liberals.

The factual bottom line is that even now the White House knows it made a blunder and did not act politically savvy.

It shouldn't be.

But it is.

But that doesn't mean he shouldn't have done that.

My personal view is that Biden would have been an ideal representative.

So, I'd say he DID send a representative. I honestly don't understand the need for the President to be at a rally. It was a rally, not a state funeral or other such event. Nor, do I understand why it was bad for him not to be there, but okay for the PMs of Australia and Canada, and the President of Mexico to be absent (along with dozens of other heads of state.) But, like you point out, Lynne, the GOP and their MSM toadies will throw their usual asinine hissy fit regardless of what President Obama does. Trying to keep him safe would have been a logistical nightmare, and a very expensive one, at that. I'm glad he didn't go. The phoney-baloney "small government-shrink the deficit" assholes should have wanted him to stay home, as well, if only to save money. And, don't they hate France? Or, or the French okay now? Fuck 'em. (The GOP, not the French.)

Obama not going was a GIANT blunder and no amount of rationalizing can change that.

The Prime Ministers from Mexico and Canada did not attend. The US Ambassador from the United States did attend as our official representative. Attorney General Eric Holder also attend a private event attended by other world leaders about terrorism.

And again this was not a state funeral but a rally.

I see no blunder. I see the GOP using this whole event as a way to politicize it. If Obama had gone he would have been criticized for wasting US Tax dollars for a Non-State event.

a historic rally that brought the entire world together in solidarity. Perhaps when history books show photos of the historic events that brought together the likes of Israel and the Palestinians, Germany, France, England and many other world leaders, in the company of millions to support peace, the caption will explain that the president of the US was home polishing his Nobel Peace Prize, or planning a drone strike, or best yet, making sure he doesn't do anything to cause Fox News or AM radio to say anything bad about him.

I think it was a mistake. The Whitehouse has released a statement saying it was a mistake. Only some around here think it was the right thing to do.

I agree with the statement released by the Whitehouse- it was a mistake.

How many world leaders showed up to the rally after the terrorist attacks in Boston? Do you know? Can you name them. What about after 9/11? How many showed up then?

There is absolutely no reason why Obama had to fly over. It was not a state funeral, there were only 40 World leaders in attendance and btw none of them were from North America. We did send our ambassador. It would have been nice and guess what, the GOP would have still complained.

The complain about everything, their whines are annoying and meaningless and thus mean nothing to me. In fact looking at the headlines on the NY Times, Philly.com, my local paper and Huff post - not one of them complained about Obama not attending the rally, it was only Fox News, right-wing rags and AM radio.

And it annoys me that Obama still caters to those right-wing rags.

Do you know how many world leaders showed up to that event?

I don't, do you?

That's because these rallies were never about photos ops for World leaders they were about people being unified after the shittiest thing imaginable happened to their city.

If the French President showed up in Boston and for all I know he may have showed up, for all I know all 200 World Leaders showed up along with the Pope and a few other cultural icons but no one knew about it and no one cared because it wasn't about those World Leaders it was about the people of Boston and of Massachusetts.

So in the end, it was never about whether or not Obama should have been at a Rally that was specifically for the people of Paris to show their unity after one of the shittiest thing happened to their city (just like what the people of Boston did after their shitty event). It was about the GOP once again finding anything out there possible to lay fault at Obama because that's what they do.

I don't see anyone giving shit to the Canadian Prime Minister for not showing up and heck he's got an entire Providence of people who actually speak French (Quebec) and if I am correct the Canadian PM is actually a conservative.

what is the phrase? the soft bigotry of low expectations.

i guess i have higher expectations from the man i voted for twice (thrice if you include the primary).

There are many ways we can show our unity for the French people that doesn't necessarily mean sending Obama over to France on a last minute trip.

If he had gone I wouldn't have care but either way it was not necessary and btw I highly doubt you voted any time for Obama being that you make such a big stink out of what is essentially a GOP talking point.

There are very few people outside the right-wing media that actually care about this. I don't see any other of the 160 Nations that didn't send their world leaders giving a stink to their leader for not going. I mean Canadians aren't giving shit to Stephen Harper for not going and the guy has an region of his country that speaks French as their first language.

This was a rally for the people of France and of Paris, not a photo of for World Leaders. Get over it. The GOP has spent 6 years forming arguments against everything that Obama does. And the GOP is the party that was so anti-french that they decided to rename their cafeteria french fries to 'Freedom Fries' so don't you even dare go down the path of 'soft bigotry'.

Sad that the GOP makes so many decisions for you. If he had gone, and the GOP spouted off about it (as expected), you would be posting about how it was the right thing to do.

And as stated earlier, even the Whitehouse agrees with my position.

Last edited Tue Jan 13, 2015, 01:42 AM - Edit history (1)

Or is Obama wrong for saying he was wrong?

Think of all the extra security detail it would involved in an already tense and over-burdened security situation. Obama would've been criticized by the idiot right-wingers saying he was "making it about him" if he went--he is criticized for whatever decision he makes.

His was a prudent decision.

Regardless of what right wingers or TV people say or would have said.

The US Ambassador did attend the rally as our representative. There was also a private meeting that was attended by Eric Holder. As something that was organized at the last minute I think we did well.

chronic assholism. Accompanied by diarrhea mouth and shit for brains.

Obama knows it is 'dammed if he does or does not' and can show support to France in his own way.

and required a fairly humiliating acknowledgement today that Obama or another high-ranking American representative should have attended the rally, regardless of whether it was a photo op or how the Republicans would portray it.

Since when is the determining factor on whether a presidential action is morally or politically correct based solely on the Republicans entirely expected desire to take political advantage? "Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't" offers absolutely no guidance on whether the decision not to attend was right by itself, as the press conference this afternoon made all too clear. It's an after the fact excuse to deflect widespread criticism for a foolish and needless, but ultimately minor, mistake.

I like and support President Obama, but I'm not so blind that I will not acknowledge a clear political miscalculation that has already been admitted by the White House. All the defensiveness accomplishes is extending this embarrassing moment in the news cycle.

just another trick out of the RW's "Make Something Out of Nothing 2015" playbook. Like GCG pointed out upthread, he sent somebody to France for the rally. There wasn't much point in him going.
This is how you know the media is far from being left-wing. 2015 is sure to have another year's worth of BENGHAZI!!!-esque reporting and mud-slinging.

Get up in the morning, decide what the POTUS is for, then take 5 minutes to compose a fast draft of why it's a horrible idea. Throw in some standard "hate" phrases - "He thinks he's king" for example - and bingo . . . sell it! If he'd gone to France we'd see the return of the Freedom Fry.

It was little more than a photo-op. Besides, for them nothing is ever thought out, it's all just knee-jerk.

The "good reason" would turn out to be nothing more than a lucky break.

How many world leaders showed up for that?

I have no clue and honestly if it was 1 or none or all of them - I didn't care. I would suspect most of them were in contact with Obama, the mayor of Boston and the governor of Massachusetts (or some combination). But I didn't see that rally as a day for world leaders to convene but for the people of Boston and of Massachusetts and of the USA to unite strong against Terrorist. That's the same thing I saw with the rally in France. That was not a rally of world leaders but a rally of the people.

then we've already lost

especially if we are talking about the reaction of the bitter-clinger crowd

The only people whose opinion should matter are people who may potentially be part of a winning Democratic coalition. Can't be all things to all people and it is self-defeating to try.

Had he gone, the GOP would have still complained. They would have pointed out that only 40 world leaders attended and that no other world leaders from North America were in attendence. They would have complained about the fact this was not an official France State Event and that Obama was trying to steal the thunder away from the people of France. The GOP would have also complained about the cost to US taxpayers to send Obama and a security team to France.

It's a no win situation and honestly, I do not have the right answer of who should have attended. But from what I did read our ambassador was there and Eric Holder also attended several private meetings. But like you said, when we try to cater to the GOP the democrats will never win.

are people who may potentially be part of a winning Democratic coalition? What?

No, an elected official represents their entire constituency, even the people who didn't vote for them. Governing is not campaigning. As I've stated before, ignoring the RNC partisans and talking heads is expected and appropriate. However, ignoring actual voters is perilous, particularly since criticism of our lack of representation in France came from both the left and right.

In any event, Democratic coalitions of sufficient size to control either house of Congress have all included moderate and conservative elected Democrats who have historically been very pro-gun and pro-religion, reflecting their constituents. Most of these individuals have been purged from office, and we lost control of the Senate and the Republicans have their largest majority in the House in generations. If you want Democrats in control of Congress again, you might try eliminating the disparaging and arrogant attitude toward "he bitter-clinger crowd," who include a sizable number of Democrats in electorally important states.

They reach level of the comic here. They know it, too.

They would have screamed that he was on vacation, and not attending to things here.

with the GOP. Obama: Did X GOP: He shouldn't have. Obama: Didn't do X GOP: He should have. They will never be happy with anything he does, mainly because he's, um, ah, oh yeah, African-American. You know [wink, wink; nudge, nudge] - black. I'm so tired of the GOP reflexively complaining about every thing that Obama does, or doesn't do. And what does the GOP think an ambassador is anyway? It's just the highest official US government representative to the government of France. Not exactly small potatoes.

being "liked" by all one's Republican friends.