Obama Cracked Jokes While the Rest of the World Mourned
President declines to join world leaders in offering condolences for Russia's worst ever air disaster
By Mikhail Klikushin • 11/05/15 12:58pm
NEWARK, NJ - NOVEMBER 02: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Rutgers University-Newark S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice on November 2, 2015 in Newark, New Jersey. Obama spoke on the difficulties formerly-incarcerated people face when re-entering society after serving time in prison and new initiatives to help support those going through the process. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
U.S. President Barack Obama (Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
On November 2, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, President Barack Obama poked fun of the Republicans, joking that if they cannot handle CNBC moderators how could they possibly handle Russia’s Vladimir Putin?
“Every one of these candidates says, ‘Obama’s weak, Putin’s kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he’s gonna straighten out.’ …and then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators!” Mr. Obama said.
“I mean, let me tell you: if you can’t handle those guys,” he continued, laughing, “I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.”
While Mr. Obama had his fun, he neglected to mention more serious matters—the Russian plane crash over the Sinai peninsula on October 31 that took the lives of all 224 passengers on board.
The current American administration will go down in history as one of the most weak and unprofessional with no affinity for etiquette and good manners.
Where Mr. Obama failed, other Western and world leaders expressed their condolences—British Prime-Minister David Cameron, Polish President Andzej Duda, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping among them.
On his Twitter page, Mr. Cameron wrote: “PM expresses condolences to President Putin over Sinai plane crash. Britain shares Russia’s pain and grief.”
Mr. Hollande wrote: “[A]fter the occurred tragedy [President] sends his condolences to President Putin and expresses his solidarity with the Russian people..”
Even Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko took to Twitter with the following: “I express my personal condolences to all the families of those perished in the catastrophe of the Russian passenger plane over Egypt.”
Not Mr. Obama.
A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial for the victims of a jetliner crash on Dvortsovaya square in St. Petersburg on November 3, 2015. Russian airline Kogalymavia's flight 9268 crashed en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg on October 31, killing all 224 people on board, the vast majority of them Russian tourists. Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has dismissed as "propaganda" claims by a branch of the Islamic State group that they were responsible downing a Russian plane, the BBC reported on November 3. AFP PHOTO / OLGA MALTSEVA (Photo credit should read OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images)
A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial for the victims of a jetliner crash on Dvortsovaya square in St. Petersburg. Russian airline Kogalymavia’s flight 9268 crashed en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg on October 31, killing all 224 people on board, the vast majority of them Russian. (Photo: Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)
The Kremlin isn’t worrying why Barack Obama didn’t send condolences, reported Interfax. “Probably, this should not be explained by the Kremlin,” said Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary to the Russian President, answering why there was no official telegram from Mr. Obama. Mr. Peskov said there were “a lot” of messages from other world leaders.
Secretary of State John Kerry expressed condolences on behalf of “all American people” to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov—that was all, said Putin’s press secretary.
Russia’s national news service Information Agency outed Mr. Obama as “the only world leader that did not express his condolences [to Russia] on the air catastrophe A-321.”
“This is personal,” wrote Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, adding “the current American administration will go down in history as one of the most weak and unprofessional with no affinity for etiquette and good manners.”
http://observer.com/2015/11/obama-cracked-jokes-while-the-rest-of-the-world-mourned/
