Paris Marches Sans Obama

Paris Marches Sans Obama

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

January 12, 2015

Captain Obvious comment of the day: “We should have sent someone there with a higher profile than the Ambassador to France,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest the day after more than 1.3 million people including 40 world leaders marched in Paris against terrorism and rallied for peace.

This event followed a several day frenzy of terrorist attacks in Paris where Muslim extremists murdered 10 staff members of a weekly satirical magazine for publishing what the terrorists considered inappropriate cartoons of their prophet Mohammad. Charlie Hebdo regularly took shots at other religions sans violent recriminations. The terrorists also murdered three police officers over two days, and four Jewish hostages taken at a kosher supermarket.

Is this another example of Barack Obama leading from behind? Did Obama stare down evil in the face of adversity? No, Obama stared down football in the face of the NFL playoffs. When the whistle blew, there was Obama – on the sidelines.

“I was ashamed,” said Lt. Col. Ralph Peters about Obama’s failure to attend or at the very least send a high-ranking member of the administration to participate in the Paris rally. “There was simply no excuse,” said Peters.

Why did Obama not attend this historic rally in Paris – the largest of its kind since World War II? He didn’t even bother to send Vice President Joe Biden or Secretary of State John Kerry, who is so at home with the French. Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder was actually in Paris on Sunday, didn’t attend, and then ignored the 5,000 pound elephant in the room when asked about the war against Muslim extremism. “We’re at war with those who would commit terrorist attacks,” said the absent Holder.

Was Obama tidying up the White House for the visit to be made by the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs on Monday January 12? Perhaps he thought he should have visited Paris, TEXAS, a mere 378 miles from San Antonio. Perhaps he thought that because Spurs player Tony Parker is French, that counted. Who knows what goes through Obama’s mind. What is known, is that once again, when given the opportunity to do the right thing, Obama dropped the ball.

Earnest also committed a fumble-ia by being so terribly ill-equipped to answer the question as to Obama’s whereabouts Sunday during Monday afternoon’s presser. “I did not plan for a question about what the president was doing Sunday,” said Earnest, looking more like a deer in the headlights with each passing day. To not know what his boss was doing Sunday is egregious and extremely short sighted.

Perhaps Obama failed to attend because he declared al-Qaeda on the run or dead, ad nauseam during his 2012 reelection campaign. Yeah, not so much, Mr. Obama. The Muslim terrorist group continues to thrive alongside its more heinous co-commissioner of mayhem, ISIS, as homicide bombings of schools, the beheadings of children, and any other slaughter of innocents they deem appropriate are carried out by willing sub-humans.

Bottom line, 40 global leaders showed up. They stood and were counted. From the brave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to the hypocritical “Palestinian Authority” leader Mahmoud Abbas. Brave, because the slaughter by Muslim extremists was directed, first at the media – cartoonists at the weekly Charlie Hebdo, and second at the Jewish community the day after – putting Netanyahu at risk. Hypocritical, because Abbas has yet to condemn the slaughter by his co-religionists at every turn in the continuing murderous rampage against Christians and Jews, men and women, adults and children.

The world watched – and so did Obama – from the sidelines, “leading” from the couch in his own painfully feckless manner.

List of leaders to attend the Paris rally on Sunday:

Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama, Algeria Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, Austria Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel, Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi, Britain Prime Minister David Cameron, Bulgaria Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Canada Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, Croatia Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greece Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Jordan King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, Latvia Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma, Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, Palestinian territories President Mahmud Abbas, Portugal Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, Romania President Klaus Iohannis, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Spain Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Switzerland President Simonetta Sommaruga, The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Tunisia Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, Turkey Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, European Union President Donald Tusk, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-35205-44-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-world-leaders-join-Paris-million-march)

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.