GOP campaign attacks 'ridiculous' and bad for politics, Obama says
President Obama spoke out against Republican 2016 presidential candidates at a news conference in Ethiopia Monday.
President Obama (l.) comments on recent statements by Republicans as he and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (r.) hold a news conference after their meeting at the National Palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Republican campaign-trail attacks are cheapening political discourse in the United States, according to President Obama.
Speaking at a press conference in Ethiopia Monday, Mr. Obama commented on the race to replace him, criticizing Republicans Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump, and Ted Cruz as candidates who have violated an American tradition of not playing 鈥渇ast and loose鈥� when it comes to foreign policy and other critical issues.
鈥淲e have robust debates, we look at the facts,鈥� Obama said at a news conference in Ethiopia, where he spent time discussing human rights, regional security, and counterterrorism with African leaders. 鈥淲e just don鈥檛 fling out ad hominem attacks like that because it doesn鈥檛 help inform the American people.鈥�
GOP rhetoric has intensified by the day as the party鈥檚 16 White House contenders vie for attention in the lead-up to their first debate on Aug. 6. Only the top 10 candidates in an average of national polls will meet the criteria for the debate in Cleveland.
Real estate mogul and reality television personality Donald Trump recently faced an onslaught of criticism after saying Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was captured and tortured in Vietnam, was 鈥渘ot a war hero.鈥� Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry responded by calling Mr. Trump a 鈥渃ancer on conservatism,鈥� while South Carolina Gov. Lindsey Graham bemoaned the media鈥檚 focus on Trump. 聽
In return, Trump gave out Governor Graham鈥檚 cell phone number on national television.
鈥淭hese are leaders in the Republican Party,鈥� Obama said, adding that the back-and-forth among the candidates was creating a culture that would smother good politics and policies in the US. "The American people deserve better. Certainly presidential debates deserve better."
The president鈥檚 comments came after he was asked about criticism from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who a day earlier said Obama鈥檚 nuclear deal with Iran was "the most feckless in American history."
鈥淚t is so naive that [Obama] would trust the Iranians," Mr. Huckabee said in an interview with conservative news outlet Breitbart. "By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven," he added,聽a reference to crematories in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Obama dismissed the criticism as a ploy to get attention and push Trump out of the headlines.
鈥淭he particular comments of Mr. Huckabee are just part of a general pattern that would be considered ridiculous, if it wasn鈥檛 so sad,鈥� Obama said, .聽He also singled out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for saying that Obama, not Iran, is the leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Obama noted聽that he has not yet heard a factual argument against the Iran deal .
"There is a reason why 99 percent of the world thinks it鈥檚 a good deal," he said at the conference. "It鈥檚 because it鈥檚 a good deal."聽
Though Obama focused his rebukes on Republicans, he also said that both parties needed to approach the campaign with decency and respectability.
With just over a year left before Election Day, Obama said that regardless of what party his successor comes from, 鈥淚 want to make sure I鈥檓 turning over the keys to someone who鈥檚 serious about the problems the country, and the world, faces.鈥�
This report contains material from the Associated Press.聽