CNN’s Tapper: President of France Was First To Visit U.S. After 9/11

CNN’s Tapper: President of France Was First To Visit U.S. After 9/11 (RealClearPolitics)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN: "This president has acknowledged in the past that he doesn't have the same prediliction for optics, as he refers to it. Images as previous presidents said. He has said it was not his strength. I think it was more than just optics. If you look at the reality of the march, world leaders were not actually marching all the way, but be that as it may, this is being referred to here in France as France's 9/11. This is being referred to as a demarcation, a moment where this country is changing. Truly, having been at the rally yesterday, having covered it for CNN for eight hours straight, I have to say it really looks as though France, at least for one day, is embracing the right things and the great things about France. All the pluralism and open mindedness that should/usually thrives here. I think that it was beyond just optics. When you think back about 9/11 which obviously was a much bigger deal in terms of the fact that the United States had not really been hit by terrorism, by Islamic terrorists within in the country/homeland itself, and also the fact that the body count was so massively huge. 17 innocent people killed here in France is horrific but can't compare to 3,000. You also have to look at the fact of, who was the first world leader to come to the United States after the trauma in 2001 who was it? The president of France. Jacques Chirac came to Washington D.C. and New York right after 9/11, within a week and a half or so. I don't think that's a mistake. And we have a special relationship with this country. It's obviously not shaken by the fact President Obama wasn't there or Joe Biden wasn't there or Mitch McConnell or John Boehner or any other leader. But it reaffirms, would have reaffirmed it not in the minds of French people but American people."