President Obama Revealed the Question Foreign Leaders Ask Him Most
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President Barack Obama said that foreign leaders have expressed concern to him about policy proposals put forward by Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
At a press conference on Wednesday, he explained that there's a perception among foreign leadership that the leading GOP candidates don't take international issues seriously.
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"I am getting questions constantly from foreign leaders about some of the wackier suggestions that are being made," Obama said. "I do have to emphasize that it's not just Mr. Trump's proposals. You're also hearing concerns about Mr. Cruz's proposals."
The president was responding to a question from a reporter who asked about Trump's plan to prevent undocumented immigrants in the U.S. from making wire transfers to Mexico. Trump said ending remittances will force the country to fund the construction of a giant wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In the past week, Obama has taken a more aggressive stance on the 2016 election, speaking out against the GOP front-runner and emphasizing the qualifications of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Shana Kushner Gadarian, an assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University, told NBC News that the shift in rhetoric could be a response to pressure from foreign business associations concerned about Trump's rise.
"The positions he's taken are so far outside the norms of how government is running right now — even what other Republicans are arguing — you can understand that kind of anxiety," Gardarian said.
"We've got serious problems here," Obama said. "We've got big issues around the world. People expect the President of the United States and the elected officials in this country to treat these problems seriously, to put forward policies that have been examined, analyzed, are effective, where unintended consequences are taken into account. They don't expect half-baked notions coming out of the White House."
