The White House has finally clarified that it does indeed view the attack on a kosher supermarket in France last month as an anti-Semitic attack, despite a clumsy statement by President Barack Obama which appeared to suggest otherwise. [...]
French officials, and even US Secretary of State John Kerry, all referred to the attack as an act of anti-Semitism in their responses - which seemed to suggest Obama was being clumsy with his language as opposed to representing the US government's actual stance on the matter.
But rather than apologize for the gaff, senior administration spokespeople - first White House spokesman Josh Earnest, and then the State Department's Jen Psaki - dug themselves into a hole by attempting to justify the president's implied suggestion that the attack was not anti-Semitic.
Finally, however, it appears they have stopped digging:
Our view has not changed. Terror attack at Paris Kosher market was motivated by anti-Semitism. POTUS didn't intend to suggest otherwise.
— Josh Earnest (@PressSec) February 10, 2015
The point is, he was avoiding the deeper issues involved, which does not help in confronting the problem. It's very fortunate that the outcry has succeeded in convincing them to change their stance to a clearer one.
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