Barack Obama said he cannot be blamed for the rise of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
“I’ve been blamed by Republicans for a lot of things, but being
blamed for their primaries and who they are selecting for their party is
novel,” Obama said Thursday during a Rose Garden news conference with
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Obama was asked if his polarizing administration was
responsible for Trump — or even the protectionist rhetoric in the
Democratic presidential primary. Obama, instead blamed talk radio and
various other unnamed media outlets.
Objectively, it’s fair to say, that Republican political elites and
many information outlets — social media, news outlets, talk radio,
television stations — have been feeding the Republican base for the last
seven years a notion that everything I do is to be opposed, that
maximalist, absolutist positions on issues are politically advantageous,
that there is a ‘them’ out there and an ‘us,’” Obama said. “The ‘them’
are causing whatever problems. The tone of that politics, which I
certainly haven’t contributed to. I don’t think I was the one to prompt
questions about my birth certificate. I didn’t say why don’t you
question whether I’m an American or whether I’m loyal.”
“What you’re seeing in the Republican Party is all those efforts,
over the course of time, creating an environment where somebody like a
Donald Trump can thrive,” Obama continued. “He’s just doing more of what
has been done for the last seven and a half years.
Obama said Trump is more “provocative” about his position on
immigration but not really that much different from other Republican
candidates, adding, “In fact, his positions on a whole range of issues,
they are not very different from any of the other candidates.”
“I’m not going to validate some notion that the Republican crackup
that is taking place is a consequence of actions I’ve taken,” the
president said.
Obama said the Republican party should engage in introspection. I
think it is very important for them to reflect on what it is about the
politics they’ve engaged in that allows the circus we’ve been seeing
transpire. Ultimately, I want an effective Republican Party. This
country has to have responsible parties that can govern.
The question of Obama’s role in Trump’s rise stemmed from several
accusations from anti-Trump forces on the right, including former
Louisiana Gov.
Bobby Jindal,
a onetime GOP presidential candidate, who wrote in the Wall Street
Journal that Obama created Trump. The Journal’s own Pulitzer
Prize-winning columnist
Daniel Henniger also
wrote that Obama’s policies are responsible for both Trump and
insurgent candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic
presidential primary.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/03/10/obama-dont-blame-me-for-donald-trumps-rise/
