Obama Skipped Normandy Trip to Avoid Ticking Off Germans

Yesterday Rush Limbaugh compared Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who was famous for appeasing the Germans. Looks like we may have another reason for making that comparison:

White House officials travelled to France at the start of March to discuss a visit by Mr Obama to Omaha Beach, the site of the American Cemetery, established in 1944 just after D-Day and where 9,387 American personnel are buried. Among them is Theodore Roosevelt Jr the eldest son of the 26th US President.

French officials and senior American military officers walked with White House staff through the cemetery discussing how the two presidents might follow the same route. But even before their trip, the White House had decided that Mr Obama would not travel there this week.

"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.

"During this trip, we wanted to maintain a balance between the British, German and France". A White House spokesman in London declined to comment. Last month, White House officials briefed that a Normandy visit had been considered but it had not been logistically possible.

Whoever the American official was that made that statement is a moron. Visiting Normandy is not about giving special treatment to France, it's about honoring the bravery of the Americans, British and Canadians who stormed those beaches and gave their lives to free France and the rest of Europe.

Obama and his staff are incredibly tone deaf.