Obama stated earlier in the day that ISIS does not pose an 'existential threat' to the U.S. and appealed for calm

Nine Americans were among hundreds wounded during a triple suicide bombing in the Belgian capital that killed 34

President was pictured Wednesday night at a state dinner with wife Michelle and Argentine first lady Juliana Awada


In Brussels police are still desperately hunting a dangerous terrorist after he fled a triple-suicide bombing in the city that left 34 dead, as officials search for news on U.S. citizens who went missing during the attack and medics tend to nine more Americans lying wounded in hospitals.

Meanwhile in Buenos Aires President Barack Obama was dancing the night away with wife Michelle at a glitzy state dinner alongside Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his first lady Juliana Awada as part of a two-day state visit.

Despite increasing calls from the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz for the President to return home in the wake of the Brussels attack, Obama showed his determination to carry on regardless Wednesday night.

At the end of the state dinner, the Obamas were pulled abruptly onto the dance floor by a pair of Latin dancers providing the entertainment.

At first, the woman in the shimmering gold dress seemed content to twirl with her partner, but then she made a beeline for the president and beckoned him to the floor.

The president, who has been known to break into song on occasion but has rarely shown off his moves, declined her invitation several times, but she wasn't to be deterred and she soon had him sashaying across the floor. It was unclear if the slightly clunky President had been having lessons. Mrs Obama meanwhile tangoed with the male dancer nearby.

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President Barack Obama was pictured dancing the tango Wednesday evening at a state dinner in Buenos Aires as he pushed ahead with his two-day state visit to the country despite intensifying calls for him to return home following the Brussels terror attack

Obama has defied his Republican critics who accuse him of ignoring the threat America faces from terrorism by saying ISIS is 'not an existential threat' to the United States, and insisting that building relations with allies such as Argentina is more important

Obama (pictured dancing the tango in Buenos Aires as wife Michelle dances behind him, right) has appealed for calm in the wake of the attacks in Brussels, saying that by reacting with fear other politicians are playing into the terrorists' hands

Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, John Kasich and even former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani have all lined up to blast Obama's response to the terror attacks after he was pictured at a baseball game yesterday and dancing the tango Wednesday evening

Obama decided to continue his trip instead of returning home, and at the end of Wednesday's state dinner, the Obamas were pulled abruptly onto the dance floor by a pair of Latin dancers providing the entertainment

Guests cheer and clap as Barack and Michelle Obama dance the tango during a state dinner in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday

Many political leaders in the United States have criticized the Obama family's decision to continue on with their trip despite the attack in Brussels

Some people said that Obama could have been 'more sensitive' during an ESPN interview at a baseball game he attended while in Cuba

Though he's in Argentina, Obama said he will be sending John Kerry to Brussels on Friday to express his condolences on behalf of the American people and stand in solidarity with Belgium

Steven Lawrence Rattner, a bundler for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, said Obama's tango and baseball game attendance could have been handled differently

This morning pundits – both liberal and conservative – complained about the optics the sultry dance sent out to the rest of the world.

The Republican National Committee released a short Vine video on its Twitter account labeling Obama's moves the 'Obama-Clinton failed ISIS strategy.'

'ISIS attacks our allies. Obama attacks the dance floor,' the tweet read.

On Morning Joe, Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations praised Argentina for its democratic transition of power and thought Obama right in paying the South American country a visit, according to Politico.

'They're doing the right things economically, they're doing the right things politically, it's a good story,' Haass said.'However the advance person who let him do the tango, that person ought to be looking for work on somebody's – in somebody's campaign very, very far away.'

'That was a tremendous mistake,' he continued. 'It's fine to go to Argentina, you want to do the work, but you've got to be careful of these little photo ops and optics. Baseball games and tangos, that inconsistent with the seriousness of the day.'

The more liberal co-host Mika Brzezinski thought the whole thing 'really strange to me.'

Nicolle Wallace, the former communications director for President George W. Bush, called the double insult of the tango and the baseball game a 'communications crime.'

Wallace called the moves 'out of step with the entire American public, not just Republicans.'

'You heard Democrats yesterday increasingly uncomfortable with the choices he makes at a moment of crisis,' Wallace pointed out. 'There were mothers laying dead while their, you know, family members were at the crime scene yesterday and to look like the priority is to go on a foreign trip instead of pausing for a minute and explaining that to America is a communications crime.'

Steve Rattner, who was also on the panel and is a bundler for Hillary Clinton, suggested that the dance and Obama's interview with ESPN, which he conducted during taking in the baseball game in Cuba, could have been handled in a more sensitive way.

US President Barack Obama dances tango with a dancer during a state dinner at the Kirchner Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires

The moves Obama showed off in Argentina were a far cry from his moves on shows like Ellen where he has danced in public before

Despite criticism from fellow politicians after refusing to call off his trip following the Brussels terror attack, Obama showed he plans to carry on regardless on Wednesday night while dancing the tango

Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations praised Argentina for its democratic transition of power and thought Obama right in paying the South American country a visit

Obama, who rarely shows off his dance moves, declined the tango dancer's invitation several times, but she wasn't to be deterred and the president soon joined her on the floor

Following the dance, Michelle Obama laughed with her dance partner while Obama and his partner presented themselves to the crowd as the group clapped and cheered

While in their seats at the dinner, Argentine First Lady Juliana Awada (left), Obama (second left), Michelle Obama (right) and others looked on as the dancers tangoed together

'I think he could have handled some of that differently. I agree certainly about the tango,' Rattner relented. 'But the idea that some people are throwing out that he should have, like, turned the plane around and rushed back to Washington. To do what?'

Over on CNN, Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist, went off about the optics.

'I think the entire thing is horrible,' she told CNN's John Berman. 'It reminded me of when he went golfing after James Foley's head was cut off.'

In August 2014, ISIS released a video showing journalist Foley being decapitated. Obama gave a statement and then went back to playing golf.

A month later the president told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd that he hadn't considered the awkward optics.

'But there's no doubt that after having talked to the families, where it was hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going through, after the statement that I made, that you know, I should've anticipated the optics [of playing golf],' Obama said at the time, adding that he sometimes gets tripped up over the 'theater' of the presidency.

Like other Republicans, Navarro wasn't keen on Obama's trip to Cuba to begin with, but the president's 'eating peanuts and going to the baseball game like he was at Walt Disney World' during 'a day of grief for the entire world' just rubbed more salt on the wound.

'President Obama knows full well that optics matter, but he chose his legacy over optics,' Navarro said. 'It was a shameful, shameful disappointing moment for President Obama.'

'I was disappointed, I was not surprised,' she concluded.

David Gergen, a CNN commentator who has worked for presidents of both political persuasions, said he understood why Obama wanted to look unperturbed by the terrorists' actions, but he still should have worked to make it look like he was taking the attack more seriously.

'Under those circumstances, I would tell the president that when you gave your speech in Cuba, the 38-minute speech, and you only gave a few seconds to Brussels, you brushed it off,' Gergen said.

'When you go to a baseball game it looks frivolous. Dancing like that,' Gergen said, suggesting that Obama should have made the 'hard call' and returned to the United States.

Perhaps as a concession to his critics, Obama said he will be sending John Kerry to Brussels on Friday to express his condolences on behalf of the American people and stand in solidarity with Belgium.

The Obamas also shared at candlelit dinner with Macri and Awada at the Centro Cultural Kirchner, named after Argentina's former President and Marci's predecessor, in the country's capital this evening.

The group paused for a photo opportunity on a red carpet on their way in with Obama and Marci dressed in suits and Michelle and Awada in glamorous evening dresses.

From there they made their way into a leafy candlelit courtyard for champagne, where champagne was served before the dancing began.

In Brussels, however, police continued to hunt for the mysterious 'man in white' pictured alongside suicide bomber Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and bomb-maker Najim Laachraoui who killed themselves along with 14 others in two suicide blasts at the city's international airport.

American officials are also hunting for Justin and Stephanie Shults, who live and work in Belgium but are originally from Kentucky, after they went missing following a visit to Brussels Airport on Tuesday morning to drop off Mrs Shults' mother off.

Their family thought the pair had been found injured in hospital on Wednesday afternoon, but it has now emerged that they are still missing.

Karen Northshield, another American who has been living and working in Belgium for almost a decade, is fighting for her life in intensive care after suffering severe injuries in the bombing.

Northshield was reportedly on her way home to visit her family in the U.S. for Easter when the attack at the airport took place.

Obama is currently taking part in a two-day state visit to Argentina to meet with new leader President Mauricio Macri (center right) in the hopes of fostering closer relations with the emerging economy

Obama has faced intense pressure from Republican circles to return home since yesterday's terror attack in Brussels killed at least 34 people, but so far the President has refused

Obama has defended his actions, saying that ISIS does not represent an existential threat to the U.S., and instead chose to devote his time to more 'productive' activities, such as building relations with Latin America

Obama is taking part of a tour of South American nations as an alliance-building exercise. Yesterday he watched a baseball game played in Havana, Cuba, after decades of frosty relations came to an end

Obama has continued with his planned foreign diplomacy meetings in recent days despite criticism that he should have returned home in the wake of the terror attacks in Brussels

As activists burned American flags a few streets away, Obama clinked champagne glasses with Marci in a candlelit room of the Centro Cultural Kirchner

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri and US President Barack Obama toast each other during a state dinner at the Kirchner Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires, named for the country's former president

Michelle Obama speaks with Argentina's President Mauricio Macri as Obama attempts to tighten relations with the country's new leader following on from years of often-fraught relations under predecessor Cristina de Kirchner

Michelle Obama, who earlier in the day visited a school to speak with female students, applauds during a state dinner on Wednesday night

Michelle Obama speaks to fellow guests at the candlelit dinner in the leafy courtyard at the Centro Cultural Kirchner on Wednesday

Michelle Obama raises a glass during the candlelit dinner. The dinner was just part of the Obama family's two-day stay in Argentina following their visit to Cuba

Barack Obama toasts with a guest as Argentine First Lady Juliana Awada stands nearby at the elegant state dinner on Wednesday

As well as Republican calls for Obama to return home, it seems that a few people in his host country are also sick of him as human rights protesters were burning American flags and demanded that the President leave the country.

The protesters accuse America of backing dictatorial regimes during the Cold War in South America, including in Argentina, and hold the U.S. responsible for the thousands who died or were disappeared under their rule.

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the military coup in Argentina that ushered in one of the most oppressive dictatorships in Latin American history, which demonstrators argue makes Obama's visit particularly offensive.

Obama also appeared in another comedy sketch alongside Cuban comedian Panfilo - a bumbling character Obama starred with in another scene before his two-day trip to the communist nation - the president is taught how to play dominoes and praises the Cuban way of life.

The five-minute video shows Obama speaking Spanish and English as he chats with the three men in the satirical show Vivir del Cuento.

The president - who appears to have spent time rehearsing his lines - is shown how to play dominoes and praises Cuban food and music.

Earlier in the day, Obama sought to deflect criticism of his foreign travel in the wake of Belgium's terror attacks, saying the U.S. must show ISIS that it does not have power over its citizens.

'We are strong, our values are right. You offer nothing, except death,' Obama said of ISIS.

Gesturing in the direction of Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, who was standing to his left at a joint news conference this afternoon in Buenos Aires, Obama said, 'It is important for the United States president and the United States government to be able to work with people who are building and who are creating things.'

'We have to make sure that we lift up and stay focused, as well, on the things that are most important to us,' he said. 'Because we're on the right side of history.'

Massacre: In Brussels authorities are still trying to work out how several known criminals and radicalized men were able to put together a sophisticated triple suicide bomb attack on Tuesday morning, with two explosions hitting the airport (pictured)

Destruction: Dead bodies and twisted metal fill an image believed to have been taken at Molenbeek station where a third suicide bomb went off around an hour after the airport attack in Brussels on Tuesday

American authorities are desperately hunting for Justin and Stephanie Shults who were born in Virginia but now live and work in Brussels after they were last seen dropping Mrs Shults' mother at Brussels airport on Tuesday morning

Karen Northshield (right) a former professional swimmer and personal trainer from the U.S., is also fighting for her life in intensive care after getting caught up in the airport blast while flying home to visit family

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz lit into Obama yesterday for continuing on to Argentina from Cuba rather than returning to Washington after the Brussels bombings that took 34 lives and left many wounded.

Cruz said he'd empower law enforcement to increase its patrols of Muslim communities to keep similar attacks from happening in America.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani also ripped into Obama for attending a baseball game in Cuba yesterday afternoon instead of jumping on his plane and coming home after the Brussels attacks.

'You don't send a picture of yourself laughing ,while people have just been blown up at a level that...is the equivalent of September 11 to one of our allies,' said Giuliani, mayor of New York at the time of deadly 2001 terrorist attacks.

Obama said yesterday that surveillance of Muslim communities to prevent terror attacks is not only 'wrong' and 'un-American,' it makes 'absolutely no sense.'

He likewise said that Cruz's plan to take out ISIS by carpet bombing the areas it controls is counter-productive and 'inhumane.'

'Groups like ISIL can't destroy us. They can't defeat us. They don't produce anything. They're not an existential threat to us,' Obama said yesterday in defense of his trip to Argentina. 'They are viscous killers and murders who have perverted one of the world's great religions.'

The terrorist group's primary source power in in addition to taking innocent lives, he said, 'is to strike fear in our societies, to disrupt our societies. so that that the effect cascades.'

Obama said they world must not give them what they want. 'Even as we are systematic and ruthless and focused in going after them, disrupting their networks, getting their leaders....it is very important for us to not respond with fear.'

US President Barack Obama and Argentina's First Lady Juliana Awada chat during a state dinner at the Kirchner Cultural Center

Meanwhile Michelle got speaking to Argentine President Mauricio Macri during the dinner which is part of a two-day state visit by Obama

Obama sits down to dinner next to Argentine first lady Juliana Awada after ignoring calls to return home, saying ISIS is not an 'existential threat' to the U.S. and instead preferring to tighten diplomatic ties will allies, which he sees as more important

Obama is currently taking part in a two-day state visit to Argentina to strengthen diplomatic ties despite terror attacks in Europe

Michelle raises a glass of champagne as guests take their places for a state dinner in Buenos Aires this evening

Obama looks into the camera while attending a state dinner in Buenos Aires with Argentine President Mauricio Macri this evening

Obama toasts guests at the Centro Cultural Kirchner while others chat and drink champagne at the state dinner Wednesday evening

Obama has cautioned against reacting with fear to the terror threat from ISIS, and has instead insisted on proceeding with his visit to Argentina to strengthen diplomatic ties as the country looks to join South America's developing economies

Obama, standing on a podium in front of Argentina's President Marci lifts a glass of champagne during his visit to the country

'That's hard to do because we see the impact in such an intimate way of the attacks,' he acknowledged. 'But we defeat them in part by saying: you are not strong, you are weak.'

'We send a message to those who might be inspired by them to say, you are not going to change our values.'

Obama began the second leg of his trip abroad this morning, meeting with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires.

Macri greeted Obama at Casa Rosada, the office of the president, and the two leaders proceeded to engage in closed-door talks. This afternoon they held a customary press conference afterward and will participate in a state dinner together in the evening.

Obama is due to return to Washington Friday morning and has made no indications that he'll come back sooner in spite of Tuesday's terror attack in Brussels.

He had a town hall this afternoon for entrepreneurs at the Usina del Arte that the center's director says 1,00 young people attended. He also visited the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral and met with U.S. embassy staff at a hotel.

Tomorrow he and his family will visit the Parque de la Memoria in remembrance of the victims of Argentina's decade-long Dirty War and take a day trip to Bariloche, Argentina, before they make the journey home.

The president's political opponents say he should have hopped on his plane yesterday morning and returned to Washington.

Instead he stuck to schedule in Havana, attending a baseball game with the first family and Cuban dictator Raul Castro, and continued on to Argentina.

Good advice? Dozens of protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Wednesday to demand that President Obama return home over human rights abuses that took place during the Cold War

Meanwhile angry demonstrators demanded Obama leave the country while waving banners that read Obama Out and burning American flags

The protesters hold America responsible for ushering in Argentina's military dictatorship during the Cold War under which around 30,000 died or were disappeared

Protesters chant anti-America slogans and wave banners demanding that Obama leave the country as he takes part in a state dinner

A man protests against the visit of US President Barack Obama during a demonstration called by leftist organizations in Buenos Aires

Cruz and the other Republican presidential candidates tore into Obama yesterday over the matter.

The Texas senator had equally strong words for Obama over his strategy to eradicate ISIS.

Cruz Wednesday said it's a 'disaster' and argued that Obama's failure to call it 'radical, Islamic terrorism' has contributed to its rise.

The president's directive that thousands of Syrian refugees can relocate in United States is 'lunacy,' Cruz said this morning on Fox and Friends.

ISIS can then 'infiltrate those refugees' like they did in Paris last year, he contended.

'It makes no sense, and we need a president, a commander-in-chief, whose first responsibility is to keep America safe. That's what I'll do as president,' Cruz stated.

Responding to the criticisms, Obama said beating ISIS is his 'top priority.'

'There's no more important item on my agenda than going after them and defeating them,' he said. 'The issue is how do we do it in an intelligent way.'

Obama said his administration is 'continuously' adjusting its playbook for going after ISIS. 'What has been working': airstrikes and special operations between the U.S. military and Iraqi security forces to go after ISIS' bases and cut down the size of territory they control.

'This is difficult work. It's not because we don't have the best and the brightest working on it, it's not because we are not taking the threat seriously,' he said, 'it's because it's challenging, to find, identify very small groups of people who are willing to die themselves.'

President Barack Obama deflected criticism today of his foreign travel in the wake of Belgium's terror attacks, saying the U.S. must show ISIS that it does not have power over its citizens

Pointing in the direction of Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, who was standing to his left at a joint news conference this afternoon in Buenos Aries, Obama said, 'It's important for the United States president and the United States government to be able to work with people who are building and who are creating things'

President Barack Obama began the second leg of his trip abroad this morning, meeting with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires

Macri greeted Obama at Casa Rosada, the office of the president, and the two leaders are now engaged in closed-door talks. They'll hold a customary press conference afterward and participate in a state dinner together this evening

The Commander-in-Chief said he's directed his team to look at 'every strategy possible to successfully reduce the risk of such terrorist attacks' while the military goes after ISIS' 'beating heart in places like Iraq and Syria.'

'But what we don't do and we should not do is take approaches that are going to be counter productive,' he said.

As he has said in the past in response to Cruz, who's he would 'carpet bomb' ISIS, Obama said, 'not only is that inhumane, not only is that contrary to our values, that would likely be an extraordinary mechanism for ISIL to recruit more people that are willing to die and explode bombs in an airport or in a metro station.'

'That's not a smart strategy,' Obama said.

Obama said part of the reason there are attacks on the United States is that it has a 'patriotic, integrated Muslim-American community.

'They do not feel ghettoized. They do not feel isolated,' he said. 'Any approach that would single them out or target them for discrimination is not only wrong and un-American, but it would also be counter-productive because it would reduce...the antibodies that we have to reduce terrorism.'

In a statement yesterday on the Belgian attacks Cruz said, 'We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.'

Defending the proposal this morning on NBC' Today show, Cruz stated: 'What I'm talking about is focusing law enforcement and national security resources on areas on locations where there is a higher incidence of radical, Islamic terrorism.'

A bemused Obama addressed Cruz's proposal during his press conference. 'I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which by the way the father of Senator Cruz escaped. For America. The land of the free,' he said.

'The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. It's contrary to who we are, and it's not gonna help us defeat ISIL,' Obama asserted.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz yesterday said he'd empower law enforcement to increase its patrols of Muslim communities to keep similar attacks from happening in America. Obama said at his news conference that surveillance like that is 'wrong' and 'un-American' it makes 'absolutely no sense'

Obama is due to return to Washington Friday morning and has made no indications that he'll come back sooner in spite of Tuesday's terror attack in Brussels. He's seen here at a town hall in Buenos Aires

Obama greets Argentinean entrepreneurs during his town hall meeting at the Usina del Arte. The center's director said 1,000 young people attended

Attacks like the one in Belgium make 'our hearts bleed' because they strike so close to home, he said. The president said it 'horrifies' him to see the bloodshed and think of his own daughters, Sasha and Malia, and the possibility that they could be murdered.

'So I understand why this is the top priority of the American people, and I want them to understand, this is my top priority, as well,' Obama said. 'But we are approaching this in a way that has a chance of working. And it will work.'

His second term nearly up, Obama will leave office in 10 months in January of 2017. Three Republicans and two Democrats are still in the race to succeed him. Cruz is one of them.

Obama said yesterday that he won't change his approach to combating ISIS 'simply because it's political season.'

'We're gonna be steady. We're going to be resolute. And ultimately, we're gonna be successful,' he said.

Obama addressed the Belgium bombings yesterday morning in a statement atop a televised speech in Cuba that has been criticized for its brevity.

He independently responded to the terrorist attack again yesterday directly as he remarked on his meeting with Macri before reporters began hammering him with questions about it.

Speaking on behalf of their countries Obama said the U.S. and Argentina sympathize with the Belgian people because they, too, have known the 'scourge of terrorism.'

We 'express our extraordinary sorrow for the losses that they've experienced,' Obama said. 'We've seen our own citizens impacted by this [kind' of senseless, viscous violence.'

Obama is due to return to Washington Friday morning and has made no indications that he'll come back sooner in spite of Tuesday's terror attack in Brussels. He and first lady Michelle Obama are seen here arriving in Argentina early this morning

The entire first family is on the trip abroad. Tomorrow they'll take a day trip to Bariloche, Argentina, before they return to the United States

Obama reiterated the United States' willingness to help with the investigation of the bombings and said, 'We will also continue to go after ISIL aggressively until it is removed from Syria and from Iraq, and it is finally destroyed.'

'The world has to be united against terrorism,' Obama said, 'and we can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security not only of our own people, but of people all around the world.'

Yesterday the Argentinian head of state, Macri and Obama sported broad smiles as they huddled with their advisers at the presidential palace.

Flanked by flags from the other's nation, the men settled into cream chairs, with their legs crossed and hands clasped, as they allowed photographers to shoot a few photos before they got down to business.

With them were U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes and U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Noah Mamet.

The Argentinian government rolled out the red carpet for Obama this morning, greeting him with trumpets as he entered Casa Rosada for his meeting.

The trip to the Latin American country was Obama's first time in Argentina and he teased at afternoon press conference that he dreamed as a college student of tasting for himself the Argentinean beverage 'mate' that he read about in literature books.

'And it was good, so I might take some home with me,' Obama said. That may or may not violate export-import laws between the countries, he reflected, suggesting he truly did not know. But 'on Air Force One, I can usually do what I want.'

At the summit for entrepreneurs later Obama again brought up the caffeinated beverage and said, in jest, 'My team, my staff thought I was very clear headed at the press conference, and thought it must be the mate.'

First Lady Michelle Obama, right, is greeted by Argentine First Lady Juliana Awada, left, during a meeting at the Centro Metropolitano de Diseno (Metropolitan Design Center) in Buenos Aires today

Macri took office just three months ago, in December, but he and Obama looked like they were becoming fast friends today as the U.S. president visited Casa Rosada for the first time