Mike Gallagher’s “President Obama: It Was You” Essay – Inaccurate Attribution!

Mike Gallagher’s “President Obama: It Was You” Essay – Inaccurate Attribution!

Summary of eRumor:  

An essay written by Mike Gallagher titled “President Obama: It Was You” uses President Obama’s support for Islam to explain why the president did not attend anti-terrorism rallies after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

The Truth:

 

The “President Obama: It Was You” essay wasn’t written by Mike Gellagher.

Mike Gallagher, a popular conservative radio talk show host, shared the essay on his Facebook page on January 14, 2015, and said, “Many of you have asked about the ‘President Obama: It Was You’ essay that someone sent me. Here it is.” 

The essay has been widely distributed on social media and in forwarded emails since 12 cartoonists for Charlie Hebdo were killed on January 7, 2015, in an attack by men tied to an Al Qaeda group in Africa.

President Obama drew criticism for not taking part in citywide rallies that drew 3.7 million participants and 40 world leaders to Paris after the attack. The White House later said it had erred in not sending someone with a “higher profile” to the anti-terrorism rally. But White House spokesman Josh Earnest said: “There is no doubt that the American people and this administration stand foursquare behind our allies in France as they face down this threat.”

Still, the Obama Administration’s absence drew widespread criticism, including the “President Obama: It Was You” essay that was shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media and in forwarded emails. The essay begins, “President Obama: This is why you didn’t go to France,” and it lists 33 instances in which the president supported Islam, or turned a blind eye to Islamic jihad.

The individual claims made in the eRumor don’t cite any sources. And many of them claim that President Obama is a Muslim, which is an eRumor that has been circulating since Obama came onto the national scene. In a previous story, TruthorFiction.com classified that claim as “fiction.” Many more stories on the topic can be found by searching the TruthorFiction.com story archive.