In Defense Of Obama Not Going To Paris

Leo McNeil ^ | January 12, 2015 | Leo McNeil

[LeoMcNeil]

Much is being made of President Obama’s failure to attend the Paris unity march yesterday. Apparently Eric Holder was sent but he was nowhere to be found when 40 world leaders locked arms in a show of unity against Muslim terrorism. This isn’t even a matter of Obama leading from behind, it’s a matter of him not showing up. On the other hand, wasn’t the Paris unity march sort of odd? Where was the unity march with world leaders when the US was attacked on 911? Where was it when London was attacked? Where was it when Australia was attacked last month? Where is the unity march for the 2,000 people murdered in Nigeria last week by the Muslim group Boko Haram? We could even make the argument that France wasn’t even united. How can a nation call itself united when the fastest growing political party in France over the last decade, le Pen’s “far-right” National Front, is banned from the unity marches?

Let’s be perfectly honest about the satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. This rag is disgusting and vulgar. They have depicted Jesus Christ in the most obscene ways imaginable, just as they have depicted the false prophet Muhammad. Does this mean they deserve to be firebombed and murdered? Of course not. It’s important to note that only Muslims attack over vulgar satire. Having said that, do we conservatives here in the United States really want to rally around Charlie Hebdo as the symbol of free speech in the west? This is an especially important questions for conservatives who are also Christians. While Charlie Hebdo may have the right to print their vulgar magazine, we do not need to rally around that magazine as a symbol of free speech in the west. Not rallying around Charlie Hebdo doesn’t mean we support barbarian Muslim terrorists. Quite the contrary, it means we’ve thought about the magazine and decided it isn’t worth rallying around even when we’re very much opposed to the Muslim terrorist attacks against it.

Obviously President Obama didn’t show up in Paris because le Pen’s National Front was banned from the unity march or because Charlie Hebdo is vulgar and not worth defending free speech over. He also didn’t show up because he found it odd that leaders from around the world showed up for a French unity march but did not show up after other terrorist attacks. He isn’t even playing the race card by either going to Nigeria or demanding everyone go there as an act of unity against Boko Haram. That leaves the question why he didn’t show up. One could reach the conclusion that because the administration has supported Muslim extremists like the Muslim Brotherhood in the past Obama is reluctant to push back against Muslim extremists even after a major terrorist attack. Considering that in Syria Obama has supported al Qaeda, perhaps he’s unwilling to oppose them publicly in Paris.

The more likely conclusion is that Obama is just lazy and didn’t want to go to Paris. Perhaps he thinks the United States had no interest in being represented at the unity march. Perhaps more likely, the President didn’t feel like going to Paris and his staff failed to grasp the enormity of what was going to happen. In doing so they missed the photo op of a lifetime for Obama, who surely would have been right in the middle next to French President Francois Hollande. Not even the Vice President showed up, which suggests that the administration really didn’t grasp what was going on in Paris. Or perhaps it suggests that they just didn’t care. After all, this is an administration that is very reluctant to call acts by Muslims terrorism. Perhaps the President didn’t really want to be associated with a demonstration against something he would likely call a local criminal act if it happened here in the United States.

No matter what Obama’s reason for not going to Paris is, the fact that he didn’t go isn’t something to get excited about. Nigerian Christians are being murdered by the thousand by Boko Haram, American Christians should be far more disturbed by those events. Charlie Hebdo is a vulgar, disgusting rag and isn’t the symbol of free speech in the west. If it is such a symbol, it’s only a symbol of how far we’ve fallen from our historic Christian roots. Why exactly does the world have to be unified against Muslim barbarians over Paris but not over Boston, London or Sydney? The answer of course is that the Paris attacks were an attack against free speech but again we’re talking about the most vulgar form of free speech. We can defend free speech without lowering ourselves to the level of Charlie Hebdo. Whatever Obama’s reasons for not going to Paris, he ultimately made the right decision. Our President does not need to participate in a unity day for the French people. Especially a unity day that explicitly excludes certain Frenchmen based on their political views.

[Alberta's Child]

You're probably going to get flamed for this, but you're right on target here.

I don't understand the fixation so many conservatives have with a U.S. leader attending a silly "march for unity" in a foreign country.

[Diogenesis]

The most likely reason is that Obama is tied
directly, by financing, by weapons, by intel,
.... to the murdering, Islamic terrorists.

[Netz]

Where has the world community been when Israel has been attacked since 1948? Where is the world with 6,000 missiles being fired into Israel from Gaza, first under Arafart and then HAMAS?
Where is the world when Jews praying in a synagogue are hacked to death by Paleostinian so-called freedom fighters? Where is the world reigning in Muhmoud Abbas supporting PLO terror against Jews but marching with the French in Paris. Where is the shame?

[LeoMcNeil]

I agree, it’s odd that conservatives expected Obama to show up. I’ll agree his reasons are probably all wrong and likely would outrage most of us. However each of us has to ask ourselves if I was president would I have gone? My answer is no, I wouldn’t have gone.

[Perdogg]

No golf courses?

[Diogenesis]

[RedHeeler]

You have good questions. So, what is next?

[2ndDivisionVet]

9/11 American National Anthem Buckingham Palace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwrX-LN9-L0

911 Memorial St Pauls London US Anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5vGho1fEw4

World reaction to 9/11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZiHN3z2o08

[Alberta's Child]

That newspaper cover says it all, but not the way most readers might think.

When 3 million people march to "defy terror," I think it's safe to say that there will be no impact on terrorism. You don't hold political rallies to deal with a threat like that.

Let me know when 3 million people ... or even 3 people ... march in Paris over their God-given right to keep and bear arms. If they had been doing that last year, there might have been no reason to hold a rally to "defy terror" this year.

[fatnotlazy]

Yes, the march means nothing, but this is a matter of optics. Obama should have been there to at least look like he actually stands against terrorism. That he didn't bother to show up, but rather, send his lackey (who doesn't appear in any of the photos from the march), makes it evident to the rest of the world that Obama doesn't care. We all know he doesn't, but now the rest of the world knows too.

[mj1234]

Ok- so he did not show-

Why did holder RUSH over to France- then disappear?
where is Kerry?- glo-bull warming skiing?
where is biden?- never mind he does NOT know where he is
(probably thought he was there)

Last- O’bummer hates any FREE society, and he just got off
vacation- no time to attend

[miss marmelstein]

I certainly wouldn’t flame him! It was another hug-in, feel-good march that will accomplish nothing. And Obama is lazy.

[Alberta's Child]

Those are all foreigners paying tribute in their own countries. I'm perfectly fine with that. How many foreign leaders showed up at the "march for unity" in New York City after 9/11?

And with all due respect to those post-9/11 tributes in foreign countries, the leaders of those countries would be totally out of place in New York City after 9/11 -- even though New York City hosts the United Nations. You couldn't even comprehend the prime minister of France or the Queen of England in the background of this photo, could you? LOL.

[Alberta's Child]

Obama should have been there to at least look like he actually stands against terrorism.

Uh, no.

I don't want the chief executive of any organization -- let alone an entire country -- showing up somewhere just to "look like" he does or feels anything.

[jimjohn]

Good article. But I can’t help to suspect that with a huge public spectacle such as this, the only reason this administration didn’t show up, is perhaps they were asked NOT to show up.

Note how the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave hasn’t given a real reason for not being there.

And think about: The way the political winds are blowing in Europe these days, it probably wouldn’t have been safe to show up anyway.

Just my $.02

[Delta 21]

OBAMA is a Muslim terrorist. Of course he’s not gonna show up.

[I want the USA back]

No. It was bearded savages who did the murdering. Bearded savages who were “offended” by something published. I applaud Charlie Hebdo for offending them. I condemn the subhuman savages who listened to their reptilian brains.
Charlie Hebdo made fun of savagery and for that they should be defended. They made fun of Christianity too, and that is no reason why our fearless leader should snub the march.

[Netz]

These questions are rhetorical because when it comes to Jews or Israelis, the standards are different. When Jews get murdered by secular or religious Paleostinians, the world ho-hums. When Israel defends itself, the world intervenes on behalf of the terrorists. That's the way it works, double standard.

[mason-dixon]

NONE!!!