Was Obama absence in Paris sign of US ‘arrogance’?

On Sunday, as more than a million marchers took to the Paris streets and 44 heads of state joined arms on Boulevard Voltaire, there was one notable absence.

 

At least, the absence was noted by many of Barack Obama’s critics, who slammed the US president for failing to attend the French unity demonstrations following the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

 

CNN’s Jack Tapper said he was “ashamed” that Mr Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden or any other “high-level” US official failed to stand alongside leaders from the UK, Israel, the Palestinian authority, Germany and Jordan.

 

“I get that the president visited the French Embassy in Washington and that Secretary of State John Kerry spoke in French, and I certainly understand that the American commitment to security in Europe rivals no other,” he writes. “But with all due respect, those are politicians spending money that they didn’t earn and sending troops whom they don’t know.”

 

Read More: BBC News – Was Obama absence in Paris sign of US ‘arrogance’?