Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., admitted this week that she believes President Obama has at times been a poor leader, slow to act and inept in handling crises.
The vulnerable Democratic senator’s remarks were prompted by a question from MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt.
“Do you think that President Obama is a strong leader?” the reporter asked.
“You know, President Obama has a lot on his plate. And it seems like whether it’s the oil spill that took place earlier, a number of years ago in the gulf, to this Ebola crisis now, to [the Islamic State] gaining strength, I mean, you look at all the combinations of things like that –” Hagan began.
“Do you think he has acted as a strong leader in those crises?” Hunt persisted.
“I think there’s definitely, like with Ebola, we’ve definitely been late to the table in making decisions about that, being sure that [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has, uh, understands and gets messages out to hospitals.”
“So you don’t think he showed strong leadership?”
“Certainly there are issues that I certainly think, uh, no,” Hagan conceded.
The Democratic incumbent senator is currently running for re-election against Republican state House Speaker Thom Thillis.
Hagan has held on to a very narrow lead in most polls, the Real Clear Politics weighted average showing her ahead by just 45.6 to 43.6 percent.
She will likely hold this lead, according to the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling, but she must walk a fine line, pleasing both her party and the voters in a red-leaning state.
