President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was dismayed by what was happening on the USA presidential campaign trail and, in a reference to Republican front-runner Donald Trump, called on leaders to reject violence and clean up the tone of the race. “In response to those events we’ve seen actual violence, and we’ve heard silence from too many of our leaders”, Obama said.
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Obama spoke as Americans in five states – Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina – voted in the latest round of primaries to select the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates for the November election.
Trump’s political rivals and others blame him for sowing division, rather than unity, across the country.
Turning to GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan at the luncheon, Obama said he disagrees with the Wisconsin Republican but “I don’t have a bad thing to say about you as a man”.
ENDA KENNY AND Barack Obama will meet today when the acting Taoiseach visits the White House in Washington for the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
“I think the American people understand that when they’re electing a president that they need to elect somebody with discipline and with judgement and with wisdom, and a willingness to understand that their public comments will have significant consequences”, he said, apparently referring to 69-year-old real estate tycoon’s anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The president, who did not mention Trump by name but whose intent was clear, cautioned against accepting the current state of the political world as the “new normal”, noting that it helps “undermine our democracy and our society and even our economy”.
“And that is certainly not the approach that President Obama has taken throughout his campaigns and the president certainly does not believe that that is a tactic that political leaders in this country should support”, he said.
Obama received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his remarks assailing the tenor of the campaign and pleading for civility.
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“It is a cycle that is not an accurate reflection of America”. He says he and Kenny also discussed immigration. “We can disagree without assuming it is motivated by malice”. It was the first time the two men have spoken since December. I suspect that all of us can recall some intemperate words that we regret.
