Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley was pressed on Friday as to whether President Obama did a good job understanding the fears of Americans after the Islamic State’s attack on Paris last week. His response: “Who the hell knows?”
In an interview with “Morning Joe,” O’Malley was pushed on multiple fronts by National Journal columnist Ron Fournier over Obama’s response to the situation during the G20 summit in Turkey. Fournier asked the 2016 hopeful if the president’s criticism of Republicans while overseas was the right way to react, to which O’Malley agreed with the president actions.
“I think you have to push back,” O’Malley said. “At times of phobia, when people are trying to — when people are trying to fan the fears and play the politics of fear, I think the president does have to push back. Yes.”
“Did he do a good job of accepting people’s fears, acknowledging their fears, or did he just dismiss their fears and move on?” Fournier asked.
“Oh, who the hell knows. I’ll let you guys judge that,” O’Malley said. “I can tell you that President Obama’s leadership is far preferable to that rushed and rather cowardly vote that they had in the House yesterday. We are a nation who has always had the compassion to alleviate humanitarian suffering. The second we take down the Statue of Liberty and replace it with barbed-wire fences, it’s the second we lose our country.”
O’Malley’s campaign has been mired with struggles recently. According to reports, the campaign is shifting resources from Baltimore to Iowa in a push to compete in the caucuses and struggling financially. In addition, O’Malley accepted public funding for his 2016 bid — a move that will bolster his fundraising in the short term, but hamper it going forward.
