"The security precautions that are in place for the president of the United States…are sometimes more onerous than the precautions that are in place for other world leaders," Earnest said when asked why Obama did not attend Paris unity march on Sunday.
The spokesperson went on by explaining that there was just a "36 hour notice" from the Paris march organizers and that it "occurred outdoors with a very large number of people who participated."
Earnest also said that the White House should have sent a higher ranking official to the unity march.
"There were also a number of other world leaders who were there to participate and show their support as well, and some have asked whether or not the United States should have sent someone with a higher profile than the ambassador to France, and I think that it is fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there," Earnest said.
A unity rally was held in Paris on Sunday for those who were killed in the terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine office on January 7 and hostages killed at a kosher supermarket outside Paris last Friday.
The march was attended by over 1 million citizens and 40 top world officals, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
