Thousands have taken to Twitter as the hashtag #WalkTogether trended across London on the 10th anniversary of the London 7/7 bombings in which 52 people were killed. It urges commuters to leave their Tubes a stop early and walk, remembering the afternoon of the attack when thousands took to London’s streets as public transport network shut.

“Showing up is 80 percent of life” remarked filmmaker and writer Woody Allen in 1977, a quote that if taken to heart could have saved the Barack Obama administration lot of woes and embarrassment in the way it approaches policy and politics across the globe. Obama’s failure to show up or send the vice or an ex-president to Paris’ massive rally on Sunday in solidarity with Charlie Hebdo and freedom of speech, vividly illustrates the decline of U.S. soft power and absence of American leadership on the global stage.