The   White House has   staunchly defended  Mr. Obama’s decision not to    partake and to instead   make only a brief visit  to the United Nations —  an approach that the   New York Times described in a  news story as    “something like drive-by   diplomacy.”

Mr. Obama’s choice   prompted Reuters to run a   headline saying, “In Obama’s  trip to New   York, there’s Whoopi but no   ‘Bibi’” — a reference to the  president’s   willingness to appear on the   ABC talk show “The View”but  not for a   meeting with the Israeli prime   minister.

Greta Van  Susteren, a   conservative commentator on  Fox  News, went one  further,  posting on  her blog  the question: “Is  Hillary  Clinton Really  the  President?”