White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest admitted that the administration failed over the weekend by not sending President Obama or a high ranking official to the Paris Unity March.
“I think it’s fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there,” Earnest said during the press briefing Monday afternoon.
“That said, there is no doubt that the American people and this administration stand foursquare behind our allies in France as they face down this threat,” he said. “And that was evident throughout last week.”
Obama has taken a lot of heat for his absence at the march. More than 40 world leaders, including the British, German and Israeli heads of state and Russia’s foreign minister, joined at least 1.5 million people on the Paris streets for the event.
Earnest said that Obama would have liked to have been there “had the circumstances been a little different.” But there wasn’t enough time to plan for the “onerous and significant” security work needed before a presidential visit.
Reporter Ed Henry and Earnest went back and forth on the issue, with comparisons and questions raised about security, Nelson Mandela’s funeral, what Eric Holder was doing in Paris instead of marching, and what Obama himself was doing on Sunday.
Earnest had no answer on Obama’s Sunday activities, but did admit that both the president and Vice President Joe Biden were “sitting at home.”
He would not say who made the decision for no high level officials to attend.
