i personally consider nicolas sarkozy a friend. i think he feels the same way. so since i know i can always pick up the phone and talk to him, that it's not necessary for me to spend huge amounts of time other than just getting business done when i'm here. at some point i will not be president and then you will find me in france, i'm sure, quite a bit having fun. i said the same thing in germany yesterday where they were asking, well, you know, you didn't have an overnight here or this i think you're reading too much into my schedule. my main issue has to do with the fact when i take these foreign trips, it's to get business done because i also have an economy where the unemployment rate is 9.4%, we still have to pass financial regulations that will prevent the kind of crisis we've seen from happening again. that all requires a lot of work and so my schedule is always limited. >> well, in a democracy, one has to accept all criticisms and all comments. let me tell you, do you think we do not have enough on our plate to do without spending time to have our picture

joining him was french president nicolas sarkozy. this is just over an hour. >> president obama, your royal highness, prime minister rao, prime minister harbor, presidents are cozy, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. -- president sarkozy. -- president sarkozy. it is our privilege to it is our privilege to welcome all the illustrious visitors joining us today. we extend a special welcome to the d-day and world war ii veterans and family members in attendance to honor us all with their presence. [applause] today we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the d-day landings that took place in the early morning hours of june 6, 1944. today's ceremony will honor the soldiers, sailors, and air man who made the supreme sacrifice so that europe might be liberated. included among those so honored are the 3881 who lost their lives on the day at omaha beach, and the 9387 of our dead who are buried at this cemetery. [speaking french] [speaking french] >> ladies and gentlemen, please tell your heads in prayer for the invoca

in jesus' name, amen. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the french republic, nicolas sarkozy. [applause] >> mr. president of the united states of america, your royal highness, mr. prime minister of canada, prime minister of the united kingdom, great britain, and northern ireland, the french prime minister, the presidents of the french senate and national assembly, ladies and gentlemen. there were 135,000 of them in thousands of boats. they formed two armies. one was american and the other army a british canadian army. a few hours before, they had been wished well before they left. they were all silent. what were they thinking about, these young soldiers, as their eyes looked ahead, staring at the thin, black strip of coast that slowly merged out of the fog? what were they thinking of? were they thinking about their lives that had been so short? were they thinking about the kiss is their mothers had planted on their foreheads whenever young? were they thinking about the tears that their fathers held back when they laugheeft, or the tears that were waiting for them on the other

earlier today, president obama and nicolas sarkozy met in an informal setting, and afterwards answered middle east peace process, or three's nuclear weapons and the policy towards iran. this is about 35 minutes. >> i would like to say to the president of the united states of america how proud france is to welcome him. for the second time this year. this afternoon we will be talking about these ceremonies and the commemoration of the d- day landing, but i want to say in the strongest, most sincere terms that never in the history of our two countries, the united states and france, have been so close to one another on major issues, major questions. i said to be president -- i said to the president that we are determined to help him in his decision to close down guantanamo. i told president barack obama to what extent we support his open outstretched hand initiative to russia. we approved and endorsed this policy. i said to the president that we totally agreed with him on the israeli and palestinian issue. two states that need to live alongside one another, an israeli state, whose security

they show that the president who spoke these words was nicolas sarkozy of france. this is that the rebellion which is too soon to call a revolution is turning out to be the 3:00 a.m. phone call for mr. obama. as a french president shows up the american, his instinct in a crisis is turning out to be prescient. hear from "the washington post" -- we understand the reluctance to sound a tougher nut. however the crisis ends in may require rethinking of the ministrations strategy for iran. last couple of calls from an independent. caller: we had some very contentious calls that had to go all the way to the supreme court. i cannot imagine a foreign power getting involved in by- elections. we have a history weiran and we have installed the brutal dictator, the shah on those people. but we did not stop there. we gave iraq biological and chemical weapons to drop on iran, and they did, they used them. so why iran want our input -- and we probably have the cia working behind the scenes now. wish to leave people alone and let the mark up their own government and of their own wa