Should Obama Have Attended Je Suis Charlie March?

jamesrage said:

Nope.

1.He is America's president, not France's.
2.These monsters murder innocent people all the time in the name of Islam and Obama did not stand with any of the other victims of those monsters.
3.Anytime the president goes anywhere it is not just the president going somewhere.It is his security, his assistants and other people that add to the cost.
4.Obama said "the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam",so his sympathies do not lie with Charlie.

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You have to put #4 in its proper context however. And that context is really the elephant in the room here.

On one hand you have the right of people being able to publish a cartoon without fear that somebody who is offended by that cartoon will kill them.
On the other hand you have the right to express your contempt for those who make offensive statements about the religion, skin color, ethnicity, etc. etc. etc. of others.

So Obama may have felt between a rock and a hard place. Would his appearance be interpreted as supporting free speech? Or would it be interpreted as support for insulting Islam?

Okay I know it is really a stretch to assume he was balancing these two things in his mind. But going back to #4 up there, honesty requires that #4 up there be put into its proper context:

rocket88 said:

Anybody could have gone as a private citizen. Since in the mind of US Con, Mitt and Jeb are "real leaders" maybe one of them should have gone as an example of leadership.

It doesn't matter who went and didn't. Some would hate on him for going, and most of the same people are hating him for not going. Haters gonna hate.

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even the white house is now admitting the error

maybe it isnt so much hating going on, as a really bad screwup on foreign policy

they have admitted the error....hopefully you can also

but in the long run i just see it as a missed opportunity for the world to see that freedom matters more than politics

rocket88 said:

Anybody could have gone as a private citizen. Since in the mind of US Con, Mitt and Jeb are "real leaders" maybe one of them should have gone as an example of leadership.

It doesn't matter who went and didn't. Some would hate on him for going, and most of the same people are hating him for not going. Haters gonna hate.

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Oh the left would have had a field day if either of them went. Either way, I'm not sure Romney or Jeb have connections with the french elite. So that would only rest on the shoulders of the government and its international arm.

I'd take this attack on the president's loyalty to France more seriously if it weren't made by the intellectuals who were demanding we change the name of a popular side dish to "Freedom fries."

MMC said:

Yeah, they are shaking so much that today ISIS is openly walking down the Streets of Tripoli in Libya. Plus they have taken another city. Wonder if our MS media is even picking that up.

Not to mention you already know about Pakistan and Afghanistan Taliban pledging to ISIS.

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I haven't heard much about it except on the internet, so if they are picking it up, they're not saying much about it.

ModerateGOP said:

Oh the left would have had a field day if either of them went. Either way, I'm not sure Romney or Jeb have connections with the french elite. So that would only rest on the shoulders of the government and its international arm.

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Well, we know Romney certainly does have connections with France. He was in France while the Vietnam War draft was going on. I'm not saying they're connected, they just happened around the same time.

ModerateGOP said:

Pretty Straightforward question. Do you think he should have and you can discuss why you think he didn't below explaining your answer.

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1. mostly a European issue, usually presidents of the US do not come over for a march in Paris. It had not happened when the London bombings took place, nor did it happen when the Madrid Marches were.

2. a president of the United States is not like the first minister of Germany. If he comes the security machine he has to have to protect his safety has to be flown over and his presence really could foul up the somewhat free nature of the protest.

3. the US was represented by Eric Holder and Canada sent public safety minister Blaney.

4. No South or Middle American leaders visited. No Australia, no New Zealand, no Japan, etc. etc. etc. etc. the list is endless.

an American diplomat is the mother of all targets for terrorist... the American ambassador should not have been there either..to kill Obama the terrorist would have got 100 virgins when he died.. they could have been within 100 ft of him on the ground and look at all the buildings around there,,,presidents don't go to marches they go to funerals of country leaders American soldiers and summits only....Reagan should have gone to the east/west german wall 3 days after they started to tear it down did he.... that was a big thing right,,,even bigger than the French march and a lot safer

the funniest thing I heard from the right was why did not eric holder go....I thought you guys hated him....why would you want someone you hate represent the united states lol that was a good one real real deep