President Obama's decision not to attend Sunday's mammoth rally in Paris - or at least send someone important in his place - has now blossomed into a full-scale media meltdown. Obviously, a White House media kerfuffle is nothing new. At this point, it feels like we've watched Obama's press secretaries struggle to explain stupid decisions just about every other day for six years. The interesting thing about this situation, as we pointed out yesterday, is that the pressure began with media outlets that have been overwhelmingly friendly towards the administration.
Maybe that's why they're now admitting that, yes; they should have sent someone prominent to the event.
As CNN reports, White House press secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged the mistake yesterday:
"I think it's fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday afternoon.
He said Obama himself would have liked to attend the march "had the circumstances been a little different." But planning began Friday night, 36 hours before the event began, and there wasn't enough time for the "onerous and significant" security work that needed to take place ahead of a presidential visit, Earnest said. He said Obama's presence also would have meant extra restrictions on the people who were there.
Obviously, since leader of the free world 'would have liked to be there' his staff made inquiries about the feasibility of making the trip. Once they realized that there was nothing important - at all - on the President or Vice President's schedules, they moved on to the next step. They did their due diligence and made sure that the Secret Service could handle the necessary security.
Oh wait. No. They didn't do any of that:
A Secret Service official said the agency was not asked to draw up security plans for a potential presidential trip to Paris in advance of Sunday's march.
"We weren't asked or notified about a trip," the official said. But the agency had Secret Service agents on the ground in Paris, per its standard operating procedure.
In other words, no one at the White House really wanted anything to do with the Paris march until they realized what a PR nightmare it was going to become. They made no effort towards the trip because they had no real interest in attending, and they even took the step of pulling Eric Holder out of the march before it began. Clearly the "he wanted to be there" line is complete and utter manure. This is what damage control looks like.
...And it's not working. Watch, as Josh Earnest tries - and fails - to explain why 40 world leaders could handle the security, but the most powerful nation in human history could not:
This is a painfully obvious lie, and it's pathetic.
