Franc[o] Talk
Diplomacy Smarts
Stupidest headline evah: “Barack Obama rejects Normandy trip to avoid offending Germany”
White House officials travelled to France at the start of March to discuss a visit by Mr Obama to Omaha Beach… 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.
“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. ...
According to French reports, Mr Obama was to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-mer, just north of Omaha Beach. The pair were apparently to have dined at the nearby chateau de Bénouville in Caen.
The White House rejected the offer, but Mr Sarkozy’s most senior aide said Mr Obama had agreed to come back in June for the 65th anniversary of the June 6th 1944, D-Day landings. A White House spokesman declined to comment on whether Mr Obama would travel to France in June.
I suggest Duck Tape.
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