Sometimes it's not all about us, Ted.

So yesterday, millions around the world including one point six million people in Paris alone took to the streets as a show of solidarity against extremism after last week's massacre at French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. 1.6 million people. It was moving. It was unprecedented. It was about a minute and a half before somebody politicized it. Although now that I think about it, a minute and a half is probably some kind of record.

French aristocrats, sensing trouble, packed up their
powdered wigs and ermine robes and fled the city.

Pictured: the scene earlier today.

The march included more than 40 world leaders with the notable exception of President Obama or anyone from the administration, which they admit, was a mistake. "We should have sent someone with a higher profile." said Press Secretary Josh Earnest in his wea culpa. Someone with a higher profile than nobody at all? Shouldn't have been too hard, but hey, they said they're sorry. I mean, there's no reason to jump all over this like a pack of hyenas on a kill in the desert, right?

From the party who brought us
goddamn Freedom Fries. 

Oh, apparently there is. Here's what Texas Senator Ted Cruz had to say about it, because if there's one thing the people who marched really, truly give a shit about, it's what Ted Cruz thinks:

"The absence is symbolic of the lack of American leadership on the world stage, and it is dangerous."

-Ted Cruz, who stayed

up all night writing his editorial

Wait, who's Benjamin Netanyahu waving at?
There's one and a half million people there,
like, does he see someone he knows?

Actually it was symbolic of scheduling conflicts and insufficient time in which to put together an adequate security detail and shut up jerk, this isn't about us. The march wasn't a photo op, and it wasn't about how much Democrats and Republicans hate each other. Yes, it was pretty lame that we (as in America) didn't have anyone official on hand, but this weekend saw the leaders of dozens of countries, a lot of whom spent the 20th century bombing the shit out of each other, walking arm in arm in common cause. Can we maybe just enjoy that for a minute before swooping in and trying to score political points?