Obama sent a letter to Jacques Chirac telling him how much he’s looking forward to working with him. Problem? Jacques Chirac is no longer President of France. What would the media reaction be if Bush did this?
UPDATE: Missing context
5 thoughts on “Imagine Bush Doing This”
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Every time I hear Chirac’s name, the first thing I think of is “Savoir Faire is everywhere!”
Isn’t that slug in prison yet?
There is a reason that there is no media reaction: Because Obama was merely replying to a letter Chirac had sent him as the head of the Jacques Chirac Foundation for sustainable development and cultural dialogue, not as the President of France.
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/03/23/obama-writes-letter-to-chirac-blogosphere-goes-crazy/
Yes, but he talked about wanting to work with Chirac and, from what I’ve read, has not yet reached out to the actual head of state.
Imagine if a current powerful head of state wrote a high profile letter to Bush talking about wanting to work with him over the coming years and had not yet reached out to Obama. It’s not so much that it’s a crime, it’s just a faux pas. Much like giving tacky WH gift shop gifts to the PM’s sons. Or the wrong region dvds to the PM himself. Or giving Russia a gift that says our relationship will involve some kind of an overcharge (who? us or them?). Or…you get the idea.
It’s not so much that he’s stupid (as some are trying to spin it), but that it’s another misstep in polite society. I know that and I’m far from part of it. I’m just shocked at how he missed these kinds of cues when he was at Harvard and around these types.
Well, I’ve seen nobody spin it in any other way—everywhere I’ve seen this has been about “Obama thinks Chirac is still president of France!”
That is to say, had nobody misunderstood what had actually occurred, we would not be talking about this at all because nobody would care.
If a current powerful head of state wrote a private letter to Bush talking about wanting to work with him over the coming years on a charitable or humanitarian foundation unconnected with the government of the United States and had not yet reached out to Obama, I don’t really see why it should be an issue.
Let me correct my first paragraph—NOW I see people spinning it the other way, but only after it came out that the initial spin was completely incorrect. Yesterday it was about how stupid Obama was to think Chirac was still the President of France, and now it’s about how “rude” Obama was to reply to a letter someone wrote him … moving the goalposts. As if any of the people “outraged” really give a shit about France. Freedom fries.