News / Politics

Obama: Republican candidates off mainstream of US politics

Monday, 25 January 2016 2:01 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 January 2016 3:15 PM ]

US President Barack Obama speaks during an event with city mayors from around the country in the East Room of the White House January 21, 2016. (AFP photo)

US President Barack Obama has derided the Republican rhetoric in the 2016 presidential race, saying the vision expressed by the GOP candidates is “unrecognizable.”

“When I ran against John McCain, John McCain and I had real differences, sharp differences, but John McCain didn’t deny climate science,” he said in an interview with Politico released on Monday.

“John McCain didn’t call for banning Muslims from the United States… [The] Republican vision has moved not just to the right, but has moved to a place that is unrecognizable,” Obama said, pointing to Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who has called for a “complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US.

Obama said that, compared to the 2008 cycle when he ran for president, the Republican candidates now have veered off the mainstream of the Republican Party and the US political dialogue as a whole.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop in Pella, Iowa, January 23, 2016. (AFP photo)

The president’s comments came a week before the Iowa caucuses on February 1, and he expressed hope that voters in that state and in later contests would “steer back towards the center.”

Obama talked at length about the state of the Democratic competition between his own former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and his friend, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

“Bernie came in with the luxury of being a complete long shot and just letting loose,” he said. “I think Hillary came in with the both privilege – and burden – of being perceived as the front-runner.”

Obama described Sanders as a “fearless” candidate who speaks his mind with “great authenticity.”

However, the president said that Clinton’s background as a former senator and secretary of state means that she can start presidency “more experienced than any non-vice president has ever been who aspires to this office.”

Hillary Clinton (L) and Bernie Sanders participate in the Democratic debate on January 17, 2016 at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina.

Sanders has a slim lead over Clinton in Iowa, 47 to 46 percent, a week before the caucuses there, according to the CBS News “Battleground Tracker” survey released on Sunday.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has only 5 percent support.

In New Hampshire, however, Sanders maintains his wide lead over Clinton, 57 to 38 percent, according to the poll.

On the Republican side, businessman Trump continues to lead his rivals nationally, and has gained ground in Iowa, besting Senator Ted Cruz, 34 to 23 percent in the Hawkeye State, according to a new poll by Fox News.

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