Remember back in the late eighties when everybody was looking for
Waldo? The little guy with the red and white striped shirt and the
big black rimmed glasses was always hiding somewhere, and children,
teens and even adults would buy puzzles and pictures and look on the
back of cereal boxes among what appeared to be hundreds of people to
find the elusive Waldo.
Well, now we have the 2014 - 2015 version but it’s not Waldo we are
looking for, it is President Obama.
People all over the world were looking for him last Sunday in the
crowd of millions which gathered in Paris for a unity rally. We all
thought he would be in the first row of marchers, along with French
President François Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel ,Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt was there marching
in such extremely high heeled shoes that she stumbled and fell as she
went down a flight of stairs at the palace later in the day.
Remember her from Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in December 2013?
She and our president started chatting it up during the service and
the two of them leaned in with British Prime Minister David Cameron
for a “selfie” picture snapped by Ms. Thorning-Schmidt who was sitting
between them.
They seemed to be having so much fun, but other photographs snapped at
the time showed a glaring Michelle Obama to the president’s left and
then the cameras captured Michelle changing seats with the president
so she ended up sitting between Ms. Thorning-Schmidt and the
president. It was an enchanting moment for us Obama watchers that
day.
But I digress. Obama was not in Paris and he apparently was not in
New York City on the 11th of January when the Empire State Building
was lit up in colors of white, red and blue in memory of the terrorist
attack last week.
And he was not at the March in Washington on Sunday afternoon which
was organized by the French Embassy although he was certainly close
enough to go as it took place starting at the Newseum and ended at the
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
But we pretty much know where he was. He was in exactly the same
place he was when our embassy at Benghazi was attacked and our
ambassador and other Americans were killed. He was in his private
quarters at the White House. Some news reports said he watched some
of the NFL football game Sunday afternoon. There were no scheduled
events on his calendar for the whole day, not even church.
Same story with Joe Biden. He was at his home in Delaware, nothing on
his White House
calendar either.
Eric Holder was already in Paris but left just before the unity march
started there. He probably had a commercial flight he needed to
catch. Oh, wait, he doesn’t fly commercial but I’m sure he had
something important waiting on him back in Washington.
John Kerry was in India on a pre-planned official trip so at least he
has some semblance of an explanation.
But Obama’s absence is really not that unusual. When the entire
country was weeping with the Foley family after their journalist son
was beheaded on video, Obama wasn’t weeping with them. But we found
him. He was playing golf, apparently with nothing on his mind but
hitting a little white ball around on some grass.
When two heroes of the New York City Police Department were laid to
their final rest after being gunned down in the city streets, Obama
was nowhere to be found. Well, not in New York anyway. He was
vacationing elsewhere, still chasing the little white ball around with
a stick.
But not to worry. He was able to attend a General Assembly meeting of
the United Nations where he badmouthed Ferguson, Missouri in front of
the whole world - never mind that the majority of Ferguson citizens
are good law abiding people and did not deserve the airing of the
dirty laundry of a few troublemakers (many of whom did not even live
in Missouri) before the entire world.
Interesting what he said that day, when you look back on it four
months later. He said that our nation was at a “moment of decision”
and that we welcome the scrutiny of the world because “we fight for
our ideals." He went on to call for the international community to
band together to combat terrorist and militant groups.
Excuse me. Wasn’t that why the unity rally was held in Paris on
Sunday? Did you see Obama anywhere in that group of forty some world
leaders who stood shoulder to shoulder banding together to “combat
terrorist and militant groups”?
And the world was certainly “scrutinizing” the gathering that day,
looking for some leadership of the United States fighting for our
ideals, and found none.
Digitas Daily is a multi-media newsletter and after looking at various
speeches of influential historical figures such as Winston Churchill,
Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, the organization put together a
short video with the following message about Obama’s failure to attend
the march. This says it all.
“When major events or human tragedy occur, leaders stand up and resist
the currents of history. They reach across oceans, stride across
mountains, and with a loud voice, bring inspiration and solace. Or
they, um, don’t.”
Waldo? The little guy with the red and white striped shirt and the
big black rimmed glasses was always hiding somewhere, and children,
teens and even adults would buy puzzles and pictures and look on the
back of cereal boxes among what appeared to be hundreds of people to
find the elusive Waldo.
Well, now we have the 2014 - 2015 version but it’s not Waldo we are
looking for, it is President Obama.
People all over the world were looking for him last Sunday in the
crowd of millions which gathered in Paris for a unity rally. We all
thought he would be in the first row of marchers, along with French
President François Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel ,Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt was there marching
in such extremely high heeled shoes that she stumbled and fell as she
went down a flight of stairs at the palace later in the day.
Remember her from Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in December 2013?
She and our president started chatting it up during the service and
the two of them leaned in with British Prime Minister David Cameron
for a “selfie” picture snapped by Ms. Thorning-Schmidt who was sitting
between them.
They seemed to be having so much fun, but other photographs snapped at
the time showed a glaring Michelle Obama to the president’s left and
then the cameras captured Michelle changing seats with the president
so she ended up sitting between Ms. Thorning-Schmidt and the
president. It was an enchanting moment for us Obama watchers that
day.
But I digress. Obama was not in Paris and he apparently was not in
New York City on the 11th of January when the Empire State Building
was lit up in colors of white, red and blue in memory of the terrorist
attack last week.
And he was not at the March in Washington on Sunday afternoon which
was organized by the French Embassy although he was certainly close
enough to go as it took place starting at the Newseum and ended at the
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
But we pretty much know where he was. He was in exactly the same
place he was when our embassy at Benghazi was attacked and our
ambassador and other Americans were killed. He was in his private
quarters at the White House. Some news reports said he watched some
of the NFL football game Sunday afternoon. There were no scheduled
events on his calendar for the whole day, not even church.
Same story with Joe Biden. He was at his home in Delaware, nothing on
his White House
calendar either.
Eric Holder was already in Paris but left just before the unity march
started there. He probably had a commercial flight he needed to
catch. Oh, wait, he doesn’t fly commercial but I’m sure he had
something important waiting on him back in Washington.
John Kerry was in India on a pre-planned official trip so at least he
has some semblance of an explanation.
But Obama’s absence is really not that unusual. When the entire
country was weeping with the Foley family after their journalist son
was beheaded on video, Obama wasn’t weeping with them. But we found
him. He was playing golf, apparently with nothing on his mind but
hitting a little white ball around on some grass.
When two heroes of the New York City Police Department were laid to
their final rest after being gunned down in the city streets, Obama
was nowhere to be found. Well, not in New York anyway. He was
vacationing elsewhere, still chasing the little white ball around with
a stick.
But not to worry. He was able to attend a General Assembly meeting of
the United Nations where he badmouthed Ferguson, Missouri in front of
the whole world - never mind that the majority of Ferguson citizens
are good law abiding people and did not deserve the airing of the
dirty laundry of a few troublemakers (many of whom did not even live
in Missouri) before the entire world.
Interesting what he said that day, when you look back on it four
months later. He said that our nation was at a “moment of decision”
and that we welcome the scrutiny of the world because “we fight for
our ideals." He went on to call for the international community to
band together to combat terrorist and militant groups.
Excuse me. Wasn’t that why the unity rally was held in Paris on
Sunday? Did you see Obama anywhere in that group of forty some world
leaders who stood shoulder to shoulder banding together to “combat
terrorist and militant groups”?
And the world was certainly “scrutinizing” the gathering that day,
looking for some leadership of the United States fighting for our
ideals, and found none.
Digitas Daily is a multi-media newsletter and after looking at various
speeches of influential historical figures such as Winston Churchill,
Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, the organization put together a
short video with the following message about Obama’s failure to attend
the march. This says it all.
“When major events or human tragedy occur, leaders stand up and resist
the currents of history. They reach across oceans, stride across
mountains, and with a loud voice, bring inspiration and solace. Or
they, um, don’t.”
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