The White House should have sent someone with a "higher profile" to attend the unity rally held in Paris Sunday, ideally President Barack Obama, an official said at a press briefing Monday.
"I think it’s fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there,"
ABC News quoted press secretary Josh Earnest as saying.
Jane Hartley, the U.S. Ambassador to France, attended the rally to represent the United States, ABC said. The fact that Obama did not attend to stand with the leaders of about 40 others countries incited even Democratic politicians.
Fox News host Gretchen Carlson said Earnest attributed the president’s lack of attendance to the time needed for security preparations for events like that. She also noted that the new ISIS sympathizers hacked U.S. Central Command’s Twitter account on the same day.
"The message got back to the White House that the optics looked awful and when you have even Democrats saying they were embarrassed and ashamed — not a good day to be the
president or Josh Earnest," Carlson said on Fox.
Fox Democratic strategist Douglas E. Schoen wrote, "His decision to stay home instead of standing side by side with French President Hollande as millions marched in Paris in solidarity with the slain journalists of Charlie Hebdo in opposition to radical Islam — an enemy fiercer than we have seen in decades — sent a clear message to the world: Obama just doesn’t care."
Rick Ungar, a contributor at Newsmax and Forbes, agreed.
"I have been a fairly consistent supporter of President Obama’s policies, both home and abroad, and I imagine I will continue to be supportive when I agree with his policies," Ungar wrote for Forbes. "However, President Obama’s unwillingness to attend the Paris march is a personal failing on his part that I believe does damage to the pride and soul of the nation he leads."
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