Obama calls GOP criticism of Iran deal ‘ridiculous,’ ‘sad’
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – President Barack Obama unleashed a blistering and belittling rebuke of Republican White House hopefuls Monday, calling their attack on his landmark nuclear deal with Iran “ridiculous if it weren’t so sad.”
Standing before television cameras during a trip to Africa, Obama suggested the bellicose rhetoric from some GOP candidates was an attempt to divert attention from Donald Trump, the wealthy businessman-turned presidential contender whose popularity is confounding the Republican field.
“Maybe it gets attention and maybe this is just an effort to push Mr. Trump out of the headlines, but it’s not the kind of leadership that is needed for America right now,” Obama said during a news conference in Ethiopia.
Obama’s comments marked his most direct engagement in the race to succeed him. Until now, he’s largely limited his commentary to policy differences with Republicans, often sidestepping the names of specific candidates.
But the president’s unsparing criticism Monday – targeting candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz, as well as Trump – underscored his sensitivity to efforts to scuttle the Iran accord, which he hopes will be his signature foreign policy initiative. It also raised the prospect of an aggressive role for Obama in the 2016 presidential campaign.
“In 18 months, I’m turning over the keys,” Obama said. “I want to make sure I’m turning over the keys to somebody who is serious about the serious problems that the country faces and the world faces.”
The president was asked specifically about Huckabee’s assertion that Obama had agreed to a nuclear deal that would “take the Israelis and basically march them to the door of the oven,” a reference to crematoria in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. The Israeli government staunchly opposes the agreement and views an Iranian nuclear program as a threat to its existence.
Obama said the comments from Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, were part of a broader pattern from Republicans.
Huckabee dismissed the criticism, arguing that what was “ridiculous and sad” was that Obama wasn’t taking Iran’s threats to destroy Israel seriously.
First Ethiopia visit
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn used his opening remarks at the joint news conference with Obama to highlight the historic nature of Obama’s visit as the first trip to Ethiopia by a U.S. president.
He said Ethiopia already has a number of firsts to its name, and he chose to highlight one that’s dear to caffeine lovers worldwide: his country’s standing as “the birthplace of coffee.”
Later, at a state dinner in his honor, Obama paid tribute to Ethiopia’s coffee contribution.
He said Americans are thankful that Ethiopians discovered “something that sustains people around the world, day and night, and many people in the White House, and that is coffee,” he said as guests in a large dining hall at the National Palace laughed.