Margolis, Matt - The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama by Margolis Matt

Author:Margolis, Matt [Margolis, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Victory Books
Published: 2018-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

157. Skipping the Paris Anti-Terrorism Rally

George W. Bush famously said in his 2002 State of the Union Address, in which he laid out a vision for his response to the 9/11 Terror Attack: “To all nations who have sponsored terrorists or given them safe harbor, I have a simple message. You are either with us, or you’re against us.” He was roundly mocked by leftists for his “simplistic” worldview, but there are certain times when a question arises for which there must be a simple answer or no answer at all. This is one of those questions: does the United States stand opposed to terrorism in the name of religion or not?

In the aftermath of the Islamic Jihadist massacre conducted in the offices of the French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo for running cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the world united in outrage against the attack and in solidarity with the French people. On January 11, 2015, an historic rally against terrorism and in support of free speech took place in Paris, bringing together 1.3 million people, including forty-four heads of state from around the world. One very glaring absence from the event was Barack Obama.

Obama’s muted response to the shooting at the Charlie Hebdo offices, where twelve people were killed, stands in sharp contrast to his remarks following the death of Michael Brown, killed resisting arrest in Ferguson, MO, in 2014. Obama sent three representatives to Brown’s funeral. [cmxvi] But this rally against terrorism, a worldwide expression of solidarity, was not important enough to attend. What was Obama doing that kept him away from joining hands with other world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and British Prime Minister David Cameron? According to an administration official, Obama had an open schedule and spent part of the afternoon watching football on television. [cmxvii]

With all the world leaders present, security could not have been a legitimate concern. Obama should have been there, or at least a high-ranking official in his administration. But none were there. Vice President Biden, whose public schedule was also open, did not attend. Secretary of State John Kerry was in India. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was in Paris at the time for a terrorism summit, didn’t participate either. [cmxviii]

Outrage over the snub forced the Obama administration to apologize and admit that it should have sent a high-ranking official to the event. Security concerns were blamed for Obama’s absence—though, according to a former Secret Service agent, if Obama wanted to go, the Secret Service could have made it work. [cmxix]

In 2012, the Obama administration condemned Charlie Hebdo for featuring cartoons of Muhammad as offensive and potentially inflammatory. [cmxx] Obama also declared, in a speech to the U.N., that “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” [cmxxi] The Obama administration was even reluctant to call the attack “terrorism” and avoided any language associating violence with Islam. [cmxxii] Every time Obama had the chance to stand up for

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