Obama Snubs French President; Seeks to Work With Predecessor

[PoliCon]

By Mark Impomeni
Mar 23rd 2009 9:30AM

French press outlets are reporting on another foreign policy gaffe committed by the Obama Administration. President Obama recently sent a letter to French President Jacques Chirac (French) expressing Obama's desire "work together...to build a safer world." It's a nice sentiment. The only problem is that Chirac has not been president of France for over two years. The current French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, is not a fan of Obama's foreign policy plans, especially in regard to Iran, and now is reported to be upset by the president's outreach to his predecessor.

The snub is the third in a string of recent foreign policy missteps by the Administration. In the first, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented . . . .CONTINUED

[Odysseus]

Okay, first, Hillary Clinton gave the Russian Foreign Minister a symbolic "reset" button, with the Russian word for "overcharge," not reset. Next was the worthless gift to Gordon Brown of a 25 DVD set that was coded to play only in North America, a real insult in view of the incredibly thoughtful presentation that Brown had made to Obama, as well as the pointless insult of returning a bust of Churchill. Also, Obama's "outreach" video to Iran, which resulted in a snub by the leadership and a dressing down by a minor functionary. Now, we have him sending overtures to the former French president instead of the current one. Either Obama is deliberately trying to worsen relations with an ally that has only recently come back into our camp, or he's so clueless that he doesn't know who the current French President is. Either way, it does not bode well for the next three years and ten months.

[AHeneen]

Even better...Chirac hated the US...Sarkozy loves the US (his detractors call him "Sarko the American"). I wouldn't have minded snubbing Chirac!

[cat714]

I thought Obama said he is surrounded by the best and the brightest. How can anyone not know who the French President is that works in the White House??? What a bunch of DUmmies. :D

[Odysseus]

I thought Obama said he is surrounded by the best and the brightest. How can anyone not know who the French President is that works in the White House??? What a bunch of DUmmies. :D

Apparently, they don't know a lot of things:

Brazil leader takes regional clout to White House
By BRADLEY BROOKS – Mar 12, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — His meet and greet with the U.S. president was bumped to Saturday, and when the White House announced his official visit, they misspelled his name...

That's just insanely incompetent. I've had to set up conferences for visiting VIPs and my CDR would have filleted me with a jackhammer if I'd done something as boneheaded as not checking the names of the VIPs for spelling.