Plenty of speculation out there as to why President Sharpton, uh, Obama didn't go to the huge unity rally in Paris on Sunday that drew leaders from dozens of other nations. The take on this from America's Real Anchorman, aka Rush Limbaugh, comes closest to plausibility.
On his radio show yesterday, Limbaugh cited two specific reasons why Obama passed on a golden opportunity to demonstrate that he's capable of genuine leadership and empathy --
There was a big we-are-the-world thing in Paris yesterday, what, with 40 nations represented or 44 people from different nations were represented in a kind of a solidarity movement, solidarity show with the people in France. In two separate instances Sunday morning, Attorney General Eric Holder refused to follow the lead of France and declare that the US is at war with radical Islam in the aftermath of the brutal attack on the magazine offices last Wednesday.
And by the way, Obama didn't go and even the drive-bys are wondering, why didn't Obama go?! Are you kidding?! Do you not really know why Obama wouldn't attend this?
Limbaugh played a montage of unidentified news types scratching their heads over Obama as no-show in Paris. Then it was back to explaining why --
No, they're not on the defensive. The White House is never on the defensive. As close as most members of the media are to Obama, you would think that by now, with six years under their belt and with a fairly decent amount of proximity, that they would finally understand who they're dealing with. This White House is never on defensive because the president, it's not in his physical makeup to have self-doubt, his psychological makeup. The narcissism that he has and the spoiled nature of his childhood, it's impossible for him to have doubts. It's psychologically impossible. I mean, you have to have a conscience and any number of things in order to have self-doubt or to be put on the defensive and that just isn't the case, that doesn't aptly describe, you know, why wouldn't Obama go to this thing?
See, this is where the drive-bys get all convoluted. They think that everything is style over substance, symbolism over substance, and when you've got a chance to engage in symbolism over substance, you take it. And they've seen Obama engage in a whole bunch of these kinds of things, symbolism-over-substance public appearances. They've seen Obama engage in a lot of things that have no substance to them, but a great image or photo op or what have you.
But why is Obama, he's not going to go be part of the crowd. Forty some-odd people and Obama's gonna be part of it? There's no way. He's not going to subject himself. He's not going to put himself in a group where he is seen as one of many, many equals. That's the way this thing is looked at and that's just one, there are many ways.
The other thing is, what was being condemned here? Militant Islam was on the plate here for being condemned. Now let's face it, this is the president who at the United Nations said that we must never allow the word of the Prophet to be smeared, I'm paraphrasing. This is the president who wrote that one of the most beautiful sounds he's ever heard is the morning call to prayer at a mosque in a city where Islam is being practiced. The White House is saying, no, Obama couldn't go because this wasn't about Obama -- and that's exactly right, by the way. They may be trying to compliment or stave things up. It wasn't about Obama so why should he be there?
While Obama remains indifferent to the belief in American exceptionalism, he remains firmly committed to the belief in his own.
Some of Obama's apologists claim there wasn't time to put sufficient security in place for Obama to go. Considering the recurring lapses by the Secret Service in recent years, would the president would have been any less safe in Paris -- with police and soldiers on every corner -- than he's been in the White House?
