Obama: ‘Troubling’ Rhetoric of Right Media During Campaign Was Not ‘Connected to Facts’

Tuesday at a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, President Barack Obama said the “rhetoric among Republican elected officials and activists and media,” during the presidential campaign was “pretty troubling and not necessarily connected to facts.” Obama said, “When you see a Donald Trump and a Bernie Sanders, very unconventional candidates have considerable success, then obviously there’s something there that’s being tapped into. A suspicion of globalization, a desire to rein in its accesses, a suspicion of elites and governing institutions that people may not feel are responsive to their immediate needs, and that sometimes gets wrapped up in issues of ethnic identity or religious identity or cultural identity and that can be a volatile mix. It’s important to recognize though that those trends have always been there and it’s the job, I think, of leaders to try to address people’s real legitimate concerns and channel them in the most constructive ways possible.” -- More...