On Wednesday, New York Times reporter Isabel Kershner covered an embarrassing gaffe involving President Obama – a private conversation between Obama and French President Nicholas Sarkozy, in which both men were overheard insulting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet somehow the paper managed to omit Obama from its headline: “In Overheard Comments, Sarkozy Calls Netanyahu a ‘Liar.’”
The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, told President Obama that he could no longer bear Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and went on to call Mr. Netanyahu a “liar” in a private conversation overheard by several French journalists last week at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Cannes.
“You are fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you,” Mr. Obama replied, according to reports that flooded the main Israeli news sites on Tuesday.
The Times also covered it online in a Wednesday morning post by Ashley Parker, after Mitt Romney brought it up, criticizing Obama for his “derisive remarks”: “Romney Seizes on Obama’s Netanyahu Comments," but Thursday morning's print edition again dropped Obama from the headline: "Romney on Israel, Intentionally," and did not even mention Obama until the third paragraph.
The Washington Post buried a brief item on the tussle on page A14 Wednesday, but the headline at least acknowledged Obama’s presence: “Sarkozy to Obama: Netanyahu is ‘a liar.’”
