Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Monday sharply criticized the White House for “embarrassing” the nation by not sending a top official, such as Vice President Biden, to the Paris protest of last week’s terrorist killings.
“It was embarrassing,” said Huckabee, who is mulling a likely 2016 presidential bid as he kicks off a whirlwind tour to promote his new book, God, Guns, Grits and Gravy.
In an interview, he said that the absence of top U.S. leaders at the protest Sunday was an example of the White House abandoning the war on Islamic terrorists.
“When Woody Allen said, ‘80 percent of success is showing up.’ By that standard, President Obama is pretty much a failure when it comes to fighting Jihadists,” Huckabee told us.
“It is pretty amazing to me when [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and [Palestinian leader] Mahmoud Abbas can both show up, as well as a million Parisians, and not even [Vice President] Joe Biden could make it,” said Huckabee, who added with a joke:
“Since he wasn’t going to be speaking, it would have been safe to send him.”
Considering the aid and comfort European nations gave America on 9/11, he said, support on Sunday was required.
“I do think it matters in this way: When 9/11 happened, the world leaders rushed to the side of the U.S. to show solidarity. And for France, and for Paris, and really for Europe, this was a 9/11 moment and it’s a matter of showing that if you are the leader of the free world, you act like it,” said Huckabee.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
