Everyone wants face time with Obama – Normandy visit

I’m getting plenty of e-mail from readers about the Obama administration’s decision “not” to pay respects to the 9,387 brave Americans who are buried in Normandy, France. President Obama is going to France for the 65th anniversary of D-Day in June.

From an Associated Press release five days ago…

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he and U.S. President Barack Obama will visit the beaches of Normandy in June to mark the anniversary of D-Day. Sarkozy announced the visit at a news conference after he and Obama spoke privately on the sidelines of a NATO gathering.

Just because Obama was going to be in France (barely) – for his first international visit as head of state – does not require he go to Normandy. Maybe the schedule did not allow for the time. Maybe his primary goal at the G20 summit was to discuss economics.

Either way, it looks like head-of-state jealousy is part of the problem. The Europeans seem to want a lot of face time with the one.

That said, if you look back at the trip planing, we’ll find some interesting information that should concern you. This is from the UK Telegraph on April 2, the day before Sarkozy announced the visit in June, with my emphasis in bold.

“It wasn’t going to happen,” said an American official in Washington. “We went through the motions to placate President Sarkozy but giving special treatment to France was not on our agenda.

Giving special treatment to France? How the heck is visiting Normandy giving special treatment to France?

According to French reports, Mr Obama was to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-mer, just north of Omaha Beach. The pair were apparently to have dined at the nearby chateau de Bénouville in Caen.

The White House rejected the offer, but Mr Sarkozy’s most senior aide said Mr Obama had agreed to come back in June for the 65th anniversary of the June 6th 1944, D-Day landings. A White House spokesman declined to comment on whether Mr Obama would travel to France in June.

My favorite military blog Blackfive is pretty ticked off, Sister Toldja says blame it on Sarkozy, and Gateway Pundit states Obama skipped Normandy to avoid offending Germany.

All I know is that Normandy is an important place, Obama will visit in June, and maybe he should have visited on this trip… but…

The G20 was scheduled for the UK months before Obama was sworn into office. His second stop was the German/France border where he met with leaders, he then went to the Czech Republic, on to Turkey and then a surprise trip to Iraq.

Why didn’t he go to Afghanistan? Why didn’t he…

We certainly can speculate and complain about every little detail (yes, I know, Normandy is not a little detail) but maybe we should concentrate more on the the G20’s global plan for recovery and reform which the main stream media has totally skipped?

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

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