If Obama HAD gone to the Paris rally....

[Ken Burch]

The reichwingers would have blasted him for "wasting taxpayer money" to "go to a protest march over'n France".

And they'd have had him for breakfast if he'd mentioned the Muslim guy who saved all those people in the corner grocery.

[oberliner]

1. That is definitely true

In certain corners, he would've been attacked no matter what he did or didn't do.

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. They would have called hm socialist for visitng socialist France.

[CincyDem]

26. The man puts hollandaise sauce on his asparagus, my God...

...what more irrefutable proof do you need that he is a socialist all the way down to his taste buds.

Sheesh - when will y'all learn.


(hopefully not necessary but always good to be clear).

[Agnosticsherbet]

43. LOL

[LuvNewcastle]

3. I think he did the right thing by staying home.

France doesn't need extra security headaches right now. I think the President rightly surmised that his appearance wouldn't have made a difference, so there was really no point in it. He can work from here to provide France with any assistance they might need, and that is enough.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. Obama will be blasted by Republicans

No matter what he does/doesn't do

[onenote]

11. Which is why what the RWers think is never a good reason to do or not do something

[LibertyLover]

42. He was -

Caribou Barbie complained, I think via Twitter, that Obama had not gone to France and the NY Daily News had a large front page about the president not marching.

[B Calm]

5. He would had been blasted by some on the left for not protesting in Ferguson

too. Damn if you do and damn if you don't!

[Mira]

6. True

It's not San Andreas' - it's Obama's Fault

[Fred Sanders]

7. Any more evidence required that the mass media is paving the road with BS for the fascists?

It is like they are not letting him breathe.....

[DeSwiss]

8. So you're saying he was right not to go......

...because the ''reichwingers would have blasted him'' and because they'd have him for breakfast ''if'' he mentioned the Muslim guy who saved all those people in the grocery store?

- Put that way, everything you're saying becomes crystal clear......

[rpannier]

9. I think what he's saying is

they blasted him for not going
if he went, they'd be whining cuz he did

[kairos12]

10. Given the Teabagger knowledge of the world they would have wanted him quarantined for

ebola before he got back into the country.

[YvonneCa]

29. ...

...

[merrily]

12. Never allow what rightwingers might say or do be a guide for anything.

They will criticize Democrats no matter what

[SMC22307]

47. Exactly. There's A LOT of concern expressed in this thread...

about how the right-wing would have reacted. Screw 'em.

[merrily]

48. I am not 100% sure exactly what they might have said if he did go, but I am

100% sure that they criticized him for not going. Which kind of proves my point.

[Arkansaw]

13. Freedom Fries?

The Republicans can’t have it both ways. I do believe it was them who were so judgmental of our oldest ally that they wanted to rename french fries to freedom fries when France refused to help George W. Bush invade Iraq.

[treestar]

21. Good point - it's tough for right wingers because

they have to be torn between gloating (claiming France now may realize they should have helped the US in Iraq and now they are learning their lesson) and ranting about Obama doing the wrong thing.

[AwakeAtLast]

22. That was my first thought, too.

[JonLP24]

14. Is this from the 24/7 news channels?

I'm not aware of any outrage except for threads here saying there is outrage and I don't have news channels (and things like this give me a good reason not to if I did)? Just to be sure.

My view is this, did it even come up like he was made aware of the rally, was it an option(I'm sure his calender is full of places he need to be)? Ok say it was free or he could switch things around to make it to the rally but didn't and it was the wrong move. I'd ask why it was the wrong move but also want to include what should be done about it? He can't go back to do a rally, its a rally, what went wrong because he didn't go there or what would have went right if he did?

People at the rally would be a little more pleased by seeing him? Terrorists a little more scared? -- which I doubt since this is exactly the type of reaction they were likely expecting and hoping for. Hell, probably the only reason they know he wasn't there was because of the 24/7 media.

Republicans that is easy to answer, they're unreasonable because he is a Obama the media, sensationalism but I'm amazed they tried it with this. Is it being pushed hard if it is on there? I ask because soon enough there are going to be people outraged when I think it is a non-story.

[xpflyr1]

15. If Obama HAD gone to the Paris rally....

I think he should have gone.

[Catherine Vincent]

16. Why?

It doesn't matter to me if he had gone or not.

[trumad]

18. Proceed......

[narnian60]

27. +100

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Right wingers are hoping Obama

will come to harm if he attends events like Paris. Mad that his not attending thwarts their aspirations.

[arcane1]

34. And they have to pretend to like France now.

[treestar]

19. +1

This is the type of thing reich wingers use to diss Obama, as they plan to do so no matter what the decision.

[Takket]

20. he also would have been blamed for making the tragedy "all about him"

by grandstanding over in France to score political points off their tragedy. He can't win.

[mountain grammy]

23. Obama can't go to Paris because he's a Muslim,

I read it on Facebook. There's proof! If you want to see it, I'll put you in touch with my in-laws from Texas

[edhopper]

24. My thoughts exactly nt.

[dilby]

25. I would not have wanted him to go for his security.

I think it's silly to have that many world leaders marching in the streets of France when they are obviously having security issues since they just had a major terrorist attack with fully automatic weapons. If these guys got those weapons into the country what else could have been brought in, the last thing I want to see is a bunch of world leaders taken out by an RPG as they march down the street.

[TM99]

28. Oh hell, Obama is supposedly

a great chess player and politician.

US actions over the last 15 years has a direct bearing on the rise of Islamic extremism both in the Middle East and in Europe. Our 'war on terror' which Bush may have started but Obama has expanded upon is a part of this fueling of the fire.

He could have dealt with all of this easily by simply sending a representative of the US government to stand beside the other politicians at the rally. I think John Kerry, you know our SoS, would have made fine choice.

Europe would have been fine with that. The GOP would have had little to complain about without looking horribly idiotic. And Obama would have least shown he wasn't an utter hypocrite having been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize but you know not actually being involved with things like an international peace rally.

[YvonneCa]

30. Please...

...inform yourself.

[TM99]

36. I am very well informed.

Perhaps you would like to elucidate on what you think I am not informed about.

Please dispute anything I stated with facts not emotional opinion.

[uponit7771]

39. delete

[YvonneCa]

40. ...

...http://m.ndtv.com/article/india/kerry-arrives-in-india-to-talk-trade-and-prepare-for-obama-s-visit-647395

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/12/politics/india-john-kerry-traffic-accident/

[TM99]

41. Kerry arrived today in India.

When was the peace rally?

If Kerry was unavailable, another more prominent cabinet member could have been tapped. What was Biden up to?

I do not think that Obama should have gone, however, politics is as much about perceptions as it is actualities. He knows this. Too many in thread are forgetting this.

Nice try though.

[YvonneCa]

44. Yesterday. Sunday. Kerry...

...met with Modi on Sunday. Rally was on Sunday.

As to the decision... http://www.c-span.org/video/?323727-2/white-house-briefing

[TM99]

45. If not Kerry, someone else.

Holder was in Paris and did not attend. Why?

Obviously the White House agrees with the few of us asking these questions and making these points as they have just released a press statement on their political error.

Now let's move.

[YvonneCa]

46. That's why the CSpan link. n/t

[madokie]

31. Obama can't win

because he's a black man. A black man who is doing one hell of a good job, especially considering the shit he's had to put up with. I love the man and would vote for him again if I could.

Whitey, which I am btw but not a racist, can't stand to let anyone other than a white male in the whitehouse and will pull out all stops to make sure it doesn't happen again. You can bet on that.

I hope I'm not offending anyone with the way I wrote this and if I did I'm truly sorry. peace

[jeff47]

32. If Obama had gone

The right-wing would have attacked him for "giving in to terrorists" and "being weak". And the media would have happily reported that.

If Biden, Kerry or some other person went, the same people would have complained it wasn't Obama.

[Ykcutnek]

33. I think he did exactly what 99.9% of us would have done in his position.

Less than two years left. Doesn't have to run for office again.

"Fuck it."

And I respect that more than going through all sorts of trouble for a photo op.

[Vinca]

35. They'd be calling him a Bordeaux-drinking elitist exploiting his celebrity status

for the benefit of his own ego. If he'd gone and something happened to him, they'd say he was reckless and ill informed and put the entire country at risk. If the sun is blocked by clouds, it's Obama's fault.

[former9thward]

37. And if he had gone what would you have said?

You would have said it was a great display of solidarity -- and it would have been. He should have at the very least sent Biden.

[Johonny]

38. They were calling French Fries Freedom Fries during the fucking war

so who exactly abandoned our traditional allies again?