Obama Keeps Snubbing Sarko

President Obama’s dizzying, 2-day jaunt through Europe left two people smarting in his dust: Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel. France’s president and Germany’s chancellor learned that Obama, not one to pal around with European leaders, keeps his distance. “Obama is not out to play buddy-buddy with Sarko or any other European leader,” Charles Bremner writes for the Times of London.

In Germany, Obama steered clear of Berlin, despite Merkel’s overtures, and in France, he dodged an official visit invitation from Sarkozy—whose presidential palace is a 1-minute walk from where the Obamas were staying. Obama played down the seeming snub, but worsened matters by upstaging Sarkozy at his own events. No wonder, Bremner says, Gordon Brown "pathetically mis-called" Omaha Beach “Obama Beach.”
(More Barack Obama stories.)