Will the American Right Abandon Hollande Now That He’ll Still Welcome Refugees?

Before the official three-day period of mourning in the country of France was over, many American conservatives had begun to celebrate and find favor with the grieving, yet fierce, French President Francois Hollande. After all, within hours of Friday night’s attack in Paris that claimed the lives of 129 people, Hollande’s message to the world was front and center. For example, Fox News on Saturday heavily featured Hollande’s fiery rhetoric on the “absolute barbarism” in the aftermath of the attacks.

Hollande firmly declared that morning, “It is an act of war undertaken by a terrorist army, a jihadist army against France, against the values that we are defending throughout the world, against what we are: a free country that speaks to the entire planet.” Hollande’s remarks comprised the verbiage that hawkish conservatives and perhaps a stunned American audience at home were looking for President Barack Obama to offer as well, in tone, certainty and ferocity. On Saturday Brigadier General Tony Tata told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “President Hollande today showed more leadership in one day than President Obama has in seven years.” Tata continued:

Our Commander in Chief, his first responsibility is to protect the citizens of the United States at home and abroad and you don’t do that by underestimating the enemy. And that impacts foreign and domestic policy — you gotta be kidding me, we’re gonna bring… Syrian refugees here?

By the time that Hollande had committed to a strong retaliatory effort in the form of airstrikes attacking the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, at the very least the differences between Hollande and Obama’s rhetoric seemed stark. On Sunday afternoon, Fox News contributor John Bolton said, “I think we have to start with the recognition that this attack in Paris was an act of war, which French President Francois Hollande has been very forthright in saying — unlike our leadership — and that the way that you respond with an act of war is… by the use of force.”

The world waited for the first substantive remarks from President Obama, which came Monday at the G20 Summit in Turkey; our Commander in Chief underwhelmed many. Conservatives in the media slammed Obama for his “lack of leadership” at that critical juncture; members of the press corps grew irritated with the President at the conclusion of his remarks for his seeming refusal to change course.

By late Monday morning, President Obama had somehow sunk even lower in the eyes of many in the conservative media when he pronounced that many were fanning the flames of fear surrounding the ongoing refugee crisis largely out of Syria:

We also have to remember that many of these refugees are the victims of terrorism themselves — that’s what they’re fleeing. Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values. Our nations can welcome refugees who are desperately seeking safety and ensure our own security. We can and must do both.

For exactly the next day and a half, the narrative of the dynamic between the fearless and the foolish was cast. France, yes France! and its population of 66 million was responding more appropriately in the face of threats than the United States. Hollande, the hawkish leader of resiliency; Obama, the witless practitioner of casual nonchalance.

Even anchor Bill Hemmer, who surprisingly editorialized about the weakness in Obama’s remarks, said Tuesday night of Hollande, “It may sound Orwellian. But if you listen to President Hollande, he’s willing to go as far as necessary to get this country back on a safety and security footing soon.” Dana Perino said the same day, “Their approaches to handling ISIS could not be more different.”

Fox and Fox Business continued coverage of the aggressive French raids, lightly fueling the hawkish-Hollande-anti-Obama narrative, into the next day. At 7:11 a.m. ET Wednesday morning, Fox & Friends interrupted an interview with former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani — who had just gotten through referring to America’s stance as “disgraceful” — to cut to a feed of Hollande speaking, “about the raids overnight,” according to host Steve Doocy.

Instead, the biggest takeaway from President Hollande’s address Wednesday morning may not have been about the raid that killed two terror suspects and yielded a handful of other arrests. Rather, the French President reminded the world, “Some have wanted to link the influx of refugees to Friday’s acts of terror. The truth is that this link exists because the people of Syria and Iraq have fled because they are martyred by the same people who attack us today.” The President leading a grieving people then firmly recommitted to accepting 30,000 Syrian refugees.

Hollande’s newfound acolytes continue to criticize President Obama’s plan to accept 10,000.

Back in the Fox & Friends studio, Elisabeth Hasselbeck could only muster the observational quip that Hollande spoke “with strong words, condemnation for young Islamic radical murderers.” In another nod to conservative talking points, Harris Faulkner skipped the refugee portion of Hollande’s address altogether and noted, “It was just amazing to see France’s President Francois Hollande stand up and thank his police department today almost to the point of tears.”

The storyline of Hollande continuing support for Syrian refugees was utterly silenced from the conservative media Wednesday night. O’Reilly didn’t call Hollande a pinhead for keeping open his borders; Megyn Kelly didn’t criticize Hollande for his declaration that, “Life must go on.” To his credit, Fox Business’ Charles Payne took to Twitter to professionally launch a sweeping poll that read, “French president #Hollande still ready to take in 30,000 refugees …is he nuts?” 97% of users voted “nuts” totaling 676 total votes, hardly the millions of viewers in Fox’s impressionable primetime audience.

Time will tell whether the conservative media will soon have to abandon their newfound socialist hero. Maybe on the issues that fit they will continue to hail him and on those where they differ however, maybe a gently turned blind eye — rather than outright condemnation. It is easy to suspect that in the months ahead, the international community will heighten its collective discourse over the fight against the Islamic State; the responses of world leaders will be front and center, and the visibility is sure to craft more storylines on ideological separations. But those who see weakness behind President Obama’s refusal to punish all Syrian refugees for ISIS’ horrors may have some explaining to do when it comes to the even more understanding, and dare I say liberal, French leader.

[images from Wikipedia Commons and screengrabs]

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>> J.D. Durkin is the Senior Editor of Mediaite. Follow him on Twitter (@MediaiteJD)

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.