WASHINGTON — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a leading Republican contender for the White House in 2016, on Saturday said he doesn’t know whether President Barack Obama loves his country.
“You should ask the president what he thinks about America,” Walker told The Associated Press while at a weekend meeting of the National Governors Association. “I’ve never asked him, so I don’t know.”
Last week, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said during a dinner speech, with Walker in attendance, “I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America.”
Democrats have assailed Giuliani for questioning Obama’s love of country and urged the potential field of Republican presidential candidates to rebuke Giuliani for his comments.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, another possible 2016 candidate, said he didn’t think it helps to question the president’s patriotism or motives. Giuliani, Pence said, is “a great American” who is “understandably frustrated with a president who lectures us on the Crusades, but seems incapable of calling radical Islamic violence by name.”
Walker, who has been amassing donors and headlines since a well-received speech last month in Iowa, has been a visible presence at the annual meeting of governors, participating in events and making himself available to reporters.
