Rudy Giuliani: Obama's Optics After Brussels Terror Attack a Disaster
Wednesday, 23 Mar 2016 08:52 AM
President Barack Obama should have left Cuba and returned to Washington to deal with Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Brussels instead of remaining in Cuba to go watch a baseball game with Communist leader Raul Castro and be photographed smiling and having a good time, Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday.
"Imagine if there was a picture of the president of France laughing during September 11," the former New York City mayor told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"How would we feel about that?"
But by leaving Cuba and returning to Washington, that would have made people feel that Obama is the leader in charge, said Giuliani.
"Here's what I would have done," said the mayor, who became famous nationally through his response to the 9/11 attacks. "I would have immediately left, gotten the national security staff together and said, 'When I wake up tomorrow morning, I want a complete plan on how we destroy ISIS.'"
The president spoke for less than a minute about the attacks during his 34-minute speech in Cuba on Tuesday, show co-host Mika Brzezinski said, but then later attended the baseball game, "at one point even participating in the wave as the crowd celebrated."
Obama spoke with ESPN about attending the game, saying it's important to not allow terrorism to "disrupt people's ordinary lives," and show host Joe Scarborough said the president "continues to fail miserably on sending the right message in our fight against ISIS."
"You look at what happened after Paris, his listless response, his weak response made Americans say, 'Why can't our president be as tough as France's president?'" said Scarborough.
"That's something never said and has actually contributed to the rise of Donald Trump."
Nicole Wallace, who served as communications director for former President George W. Bush, agreed that the president's optics were "catastrophic."
Bush was highly criticized when he remained in a classroom after learning of the 9/11 attacks, she said, but in Obama's case, "he had no way of knowing when he went to the baseball game that all the American people who were in Brussels yesterday were alive or not."
Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO commander, was also on Wednesday's program, and compared the Brussels attacks to 9/11 in the United States, as Belgium is a small country.
But Obama considers such actions as being criminal acts, said Giuliani, which is a large mistake.
"You don't send a picture of yourself laughing while people have just been blown up at a level that, as the admiral pointed out, is the equivalent of September 11 to one of our allies," he said.
"Imagine if there was a picture of the president of France laughing during September 11," the former New York City mayor told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
But by leaving Cuba and returning to Washington, that would have made people feel that Obama is the leader in charge, said Giuliani.
"Here's what I would have done," said the mayor, who became famous nationally through his response to the 9/11 attacks. "I would have immediately left, gotten the national security staff together and said, 'When I wake up tomorrow morning, I want a complete plan on how we destroy ISIS.'"
The president spoke for less than a minute about the attacks during his 34-minute speech in Cuba on Tuesday, show co-host Mika Brzezinski said, but then later attended the baseball game, "at one point even participating in the wave as the crowd celebrated."
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"You look at what happened after Paris, his listless response, his weak response made Americans say, 'Why can't our president be as tough as France's president?'" said Scarborough.
"That's something never said and has actually contributed to the rise of Donald Trump."
Nicole Wallace, who served as communications director for former President George W. Bush, agreed that the president's optics were "catastrophic."
Bush was highly criticized when he remained in a classroom after learning of the 9/11 attacks, she said, but in Obama's case, "he had no way of knowing when he went to the baseball game that all the American people who were in Brussels yesterday were alive or not."
But Obama considers such actions as being criminal acts, said Giuliani, which is a large mistake.
"You don't send a picture of yourself laughing while people have just been blown up at a level that, as the admiral pointed out, is the equivalent of September 11 to one of our allies," he said.
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