# Where was Barack Obama, to stand for Democracy? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597 "2015-01-12T03:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/201 "2015-01-13T00:44:49Z")
Didn’t Fox have you guys _making jokes_ about the French not all that long ago? It’s gotta be tough keeping track - unless the secret is simply not to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![regginbrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@regginbrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/regginbrow)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/202 "2015-01-13T00:46:46Z")
I’d just like to say that this thread is delightful. It’s a nice capper to a blah Monday. My favorite part is that conservatives are pretending that they actually give a shit about thee feelings of FRANCE in order to criticize Obama. Also, lest anyone forget, the original idiotic criticism was that Obama should have attended personally. Now that that has shown to be completely baseless, friends like our esteemed OP are trying to transition into something akin to ‘well, he should have sent someone better!’. Don’t let those goalposts move, Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/203 "2015-01-13T01:07:11Z")
Let me go out on a limb here. I, for one, do not give a fuck that the President did not go to France. There. I said it. I don’t care. I do not believe there will be any repercussions to the US in regards to our relationship with France, our standing the world community, nor to democracy and the practice thereof. If the President HAD gone to France…I still wouldn’t give a fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/204 "2015-01-13T01:31:16Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Fuck all you, and have a nice day. [Moderating]Saying “fuck you” to other posters is a violation of the Pit’s language rules. Please avoid doing this in the future. No warning issued. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/205 "2015-01-13T01:57:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Didn’t Fox have you guys _making jokes_ about the French not all that long ago? It’s gotta be tough keeping track - unless the secret is simply not to think about it. From “Frannz is cheeZe eattin surennder monkees” to “WE is Charlee” and not a hair out of place! A flying lead change like that would break every leg on a horse. “Oceania has always been allied with Eurasia . . . err Eastasia, which ever one you tell me, really.” CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/206 "2015-01-13T02:26:12Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Yes, it was. And I, as an American, think our President should have been there showing support for the French. When have you ever favored support for the French? When have you ever thought of Obama as “(y)our president”? Heck, when have you ever thought? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/207 "2015-01-13T02:35:41Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > When have you ever favored support for the French? > > When have you ever thought of Obama as “(y)our president”? > > Heck, when have you ever thought? \*\*Clothy’s \*\*head is on a swivel, completely immune to the whiplash caused by turning 180° at full speed. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/208 "2015-01-13T02:47:05Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > [Moderating]Saying “fuck you” to other posters is a violation of the Pit’s language rules. Please avoid doing this in the future. No warning issued. > [/Moderating] I apologize for the violation. My grand moment of reprisal got the better of me. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/209 "2015-01-13T02:49:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > If he had gone, you’d be screaming about the waste of time and tax dollars. You spend more time here than I do, and presumably have Stringbean figured out. But I think the predominant reaction from conservative Americans would have been that Obama was trying to hog the spotlight of a European event. Should Eric Holder have gone? Yes. Is it important that he didn’t go? Of course not. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/210 "2015-01-13T02:55:34Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > {…} My grand moment of reprisal got the better of me. _That_ was a “grand moment of reprisal”? :dubious: You’re not even trying. ☹ CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/211 "2015-01-13T03:04:41Z")
They say sarcasm is tough to read on the internet, but pettiness sure ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/212 "2015-01-13T03:06:22Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > You’re not even trying. ☹ Nah, _this_ is not even trying: > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Go fuck a cactus. Dude, seriously? That’s what you bring? Shirley, you can do better than that. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/213 "2015-01-13T03:12:11Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Dude, seriously? That’s what you bring? Shirley, you can do better than that. Apparently, you can’t do any better. “Keep fucking that chicken” is a joke based on a commercial from the 1970’s. How edgy. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/214 "2015-01-13T03:18:28Z")
What _I_ want to know is where the hell was Queen Elizabeth? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/215 "2015-01-13T03:19:02Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > When the French and the europeans start complaining then there is a snub, but if there is not such, then it is not. it is quite simple, I think the sdmb term is the Offenderati always seeking offense. > > But I do not believe any of this is honest, it is your stupid american politics that is making yourselves more important than the actual event, which is itself disgusting. Not that you would have any sense of shame. Heh, this is one of the most withering, well deserved put-downs I’ve seen on these boards. Unanswered, and unanswerable. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/216 "2015-01-13T03:21:31Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Apparently, you can’t do any better. “Keep fucking that chicken” is a joke based on a commercial from the 1970’s. No, it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/217 "2015-01-13T03:33:31Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > What _I_ want to know is where the hell was Queen Elizabeth? Trapped in Buckingham Palace by all those ‘no-go’ zones surrounding it, presumably. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/218 "2015-01-13T03:36:15Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > They say sarcasm is tough to read on the internet, but pettiness sure ain’t. Well, that certainly put me in my place! This is _The Pit_ you might learn it’s ropes . . . but I ain’t that sure you’re gonna be here long enough. Pro tip: it ain’t the _words_, it’s the _argument_ that counts. CMC fnord! Such spirit. I wager fifteen qualtoos that the newcomer is untrainable and five thousand quatloos that the [DEL][COLOR=“Black”]troll[/DEL][/COLOR] thrall will have to be destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/219 "2015-01-13T03:37:31Z")
On second thought, NM. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597/220 "2015-01-13T03:38:48Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > No, it isn’t. Yes, it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-barack-obama-to-stand-for-democracy/709597.md?page=12)