The people complaining about his absence are the same people who’d complain if he went. They complain. That’s what they do.

.@DanaHoule @owillis similar to Venn diagram of those who complain Obama didn’t go to Paris & those who’d complain abt costs if he did

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) January 12, 2015

And as it turns out, it’s even more of a photo op than what the initial ground level photos would have you believe as the high-angle shot shows.

CNN doesn’t report on the fact that this photo was a staged photo-op but did note that more than 2,300 security forces were deployed for the security of the marchers.

Tapper noted that security has been tenuous. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and other officials said 2,300 police officers, as well as paramilitary forces, would be deployed Sunday. The dignitaries and leaders were to be protected by special units.

Police snipers, plainclothes and anti-terror officers were deployed, and parking and transit restrictions were in place. The government planned to close large sections of the city to traffic, Cazeneuve said.

Zakaria observed that security concerns didn’t dissuade Netanyahu or Abbas or other controversial leaders from showing up. The bright side, he said, is that Obama’s absence showed that the struggle against radical Islam is “not all about America.”

“Many people have tended to think that Islamic terrorism wouldn’t exist without America,” Zakaria said. “This is really a struggle between the civilized world and a band of extremists. Even if you take the U.S. out of it … the civilized world is up in arms.”

French investigators are still trying to piece connections between three terror suspects killed Friday and their suspected links to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and other terrorist groups. Security will remain heightened as the investigations continue, officials have said.

So, a number of other foreign leaders showed up, including Netenyahu (which makes sense since several of those killed were Jews and were being buried in Israel).