--- description: We should have sent someone with a higher profile," Obama's top spokesman said. title: White House Says It Should Have Sent a More Senior Official to Paris image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7de5b6f65b410340/6987797c5f570f366fb14a56/obama-france.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Foreign Policy](/tag/foreign-policy/) ## Foreign Policy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # White House Says It Should Have Sent a More Senior Official to Paris by [Zeke Miller](/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:03 PM CUTPublished: Jan 12, 2015 6:58 PM CUT  From Left: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, French President Francois Hollande, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merke, European Council President Donald Tusk and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend the solidarity march in the streets of Paris on jan. 11, 2015. From Left: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, French President Francois Hollande, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merke, European Council President Donald Tusk and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend the solidarity march in the streets of Paris on jan. 11, 2015.Philippe Wojazer—Reuters by [Zeke Miller](/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:03 PM CUTPublished: Jan 12, 2015 6:58 PM CUT The White House said Monday that it blundered by not sending a higher-profile government official to attend [a unity march in Paris on Sunday](http://time.com/3662772/paris-march-solidarity-terrorism/ "undefined") after last week’s terrorist attacks, following a day of [criticism](http://time.com/3663514/paris-charlie-hebdo-rally-barack-obama-john-kerry/ "undefined") from media figures and Republicans over the Obama Administration’s absence. “I think it’s fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in the wake of rebukes from figures including [Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz](http://time.com/3663623/obama-not-at-paris-terror-march-ted-cruz/ "undefined"). “We agree that we should have sent someone with a higher profile.” French President François Hollande invited world leaders to attend the march on Friday. German Chancellor AngelaMerkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas were in attendance, but the U.S. was represented only by Ambassador to France Jane Harley. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris to attend meetings with his French counterparts, but did not attend the march, which attracted more than one million people. ### Hundreds of Thousands March for Victims in France  People take part in a silent procession for victims of the shooting at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Jan. 10, 2015, in Nice, southeastern France. Lionel Cironneau—AP  A man holds a French flag during a silent walk for victims of the shooting at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Jan. 10, 2015, in Nice. Lionel Cironneau—AP  Tens of thousands of people some holding up signs that read, "Je suis Charlie" march in Nice, on Jan. 10, 2015. Valery Hache—AFP/Getty Images  Demonstrators hold signs that reads "Je suis Charlie" during a rally in Nantes on Jan. 10, 2015,. Jean-Sebastien Evrard—AFP/Getty Images  A man hold a rose and pencil during a rally at the Memorial Square in Caen on Jan. 10, 2015. Charly Truballeeau—AFP/Getty Images  Thousands peoples walks during a tribute to the victims of the attack on the Paris headquarters of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Toulouse, Jan. 10, 2014. Guillaume Horcahuel—EPA  Children lay flowers outside the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket near Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris, Jan. 10, 2015. Yves Herman—Reuters  Messages left by people visiting a makeshift memorial are pasted to a wall near the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Jan. 10, 2015. David Azia—AP Earnest would not say whether the White House considered sending President Barack Obama or Vice President Joe Biden to attend the event, but said he is sure they would have wanted to attend. “Had the circumstances been a little bit different, I think the president himself would have liked to be there,” he said. “This was not a decision that was made by the President,” Earnest added. Earnest blamed the short timeframe in which the event came together for keeping American leaders from attending, as well as U.S. security requirements which would have been “onerous” for other attendees. “We’re talking about a march that came together in about 36 hours, and a march that took place outdoors,” Earnest said, adding that had Obama or Biden attended, “it would have significantly impacted the ability of those in attendance to participate like they did yesterday.” **MORE** [Ted Cruz: Obama Should Have Gone to Paris](http://time.com/3663623/obama-not-at-paris-terror-march-ted-cruz/ "undefined") “There were a variety of conversations,” State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf said of attending the march. Secretary of State John Kerry was in India on Sunday for a long-scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Since this happened, we have shown solidarity with the French in so many ways,” she said, adding that the U.S.-France relationship is not defined by a single event. “I would like to see how many minutes we spend on Boko Haram compared to a march—I just want to point that out,” Harf added after reporters repeatedly asked about the march at the State Department’s daily briefing monday. _Read next:_ [Charlie Hebdo _Afflicted Us With Free Speech Hindsight_](http://time.com/3663951/charlie-hebdo-paris-attacks-free-speech-hindsight/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3664204/paris-charlie-hebdo-barack-obama-march/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3664204/paris-charlie-hebdo-barack-obama-march/"},"headline":"White House Says It Should Have Sent a More Senior Official to Paris","datePublished":"2015-01-12T18:58:32.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T20:03:37.000Z","description":"\"We should have sent someone with a higher profile,\" Obama's top spokesman said","url":"https://time.com/3664204/paris-charlie-hebdo-barack-obama-march/","keywords":["Foreign Policy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7de5b6f65b410340/6987797c5f570f366fb14a56/obama-france.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7de5b6f65b410340/6987797c5f570f366fb14a56/obama-france.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"French President Francois Hollande is surrounded by heads of state attends the solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris","caption":"French President Francois Hollande is surrounded by heads of state attends the solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris","creditText":"Philippe Wojazer—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3664204/paris-charlie-hebdo-barack-obama-march/","name":"White House Says It Should Have Sent a More Senior Official to Paris"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Paris Gunmen Killed, Hostages Freed","description":"Watch #knowrightnow to catch up on today's top story.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WZdnXsGV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-07T16:26:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WZdnXsGV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3664204/paris-charlie-hebdo-barack-obama-march/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3664204/paris-charlie-hebdo-barack-obama-march/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```