Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) backtracked Sunday night on his controversial comments that President Obama doesn’t love America.
Giuliani in a Wall Street Journal op-ed said his “blunt” language had overshadowed the point he was trying to get across and that he had never intended to question the president’s motives in the war on terror.
{mosads}”My blunt language suggesting that the president doesn’t love America notwithstanding, I didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart,” he wrote. “My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.”
Giuliani’s comments last week created a political storm. The White House criticized the former mayor, and GOP presidential hopefuls were pressured by reporters to respond to the comments.
Giuliani made his initial remarks at a dinner for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who, in a separate interview over the weekend, said he did not know whether Obama was a Christian.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was among the Republicans criticizing Giuliani’s remarks, while another possible GOP 2016 hopeful, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, said in a statement that he would not condemn the remarks.
In his op-ed, Giuliani wrote that he only meant to highlight what he sees as a paucity of rhetoric from the president promoting American exceptionalism, not to question Obama’s patriotism.
“Obviously, I cannot read President Obama’s mind or heart, and to the extent that my words suggested otherwise, it was not my intention,” he wrote.
“And to say, as the president has, that American exceptionalism is no more exceptional than the exceptionalism of any other country in the world, does not suggest a becoming and endearing modesty, but rather a stark lack of moral clarity,” he added.