Giuliani: Obama doesn’t love America

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) ratcheted up his rhetoric against President Obama late Wednesday, asserting that the president does not love America.

“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Giuliani said during a dinner in Manhattan attended by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a potential Republican presidential candidate, and several dozen conservative media and business executives, Politico reported.

{mosads}“He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up, and I was brought up through love of this country,” Giuliani added.

The former mayor, who ran for president in 2008, has long criticized Obama’s policies and explained his criticism to Politico in a follow-up.

“What country has left so many young men and women dead abroad to save other countries without taking land? This is not the colonial empire that somehow he has in his hand. I’ve never felt that from him. I felt that from [George] W. [Bush]. I felt that from [Bill] Clinton. I felt that from every American president, including ones I disagreed with, including [Jimmy] Carter. I don’t feel that from President Obama,” Giuliani said.

Giuliani clarified his remarks during an interview Thursday morning on “Fox and Friends.”

“I’m not questioning his patriotism — he’s a patriot, I’m sure. What I’m saying is, in his rhetoric, I very rarely hear him say the things I used to hear Ronald Reagan say, the things I used to hear Bill Clinton say about all the things he loves about America. I do hear him criticize America much more often than other American presidents,” Giuliani said. 

“When it’s not in the context of an overwhelming number of statements about the exceptionalism of America, it sounds like he’s more of a critic than he is a supporter. You can be a patriotic American and be a critic, but then you’re not expressing that kind of love that we’re used to from a president,” he added.

Giuliani questioned Obama’s love and understanding of Western civilization, citing his moves to negotiate a deal with Tehran over its nuclear program.

He also pushed back on the president’s claim that fighters with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are not Islamic leaders and instead represent a perversion of the religion. 

Obama, writing in a Los Angeles Times op-ed Thursday, wrote, “Efforts to counter violent extremism will only succeed if citizens can address legitimate grievances through the democratic process and express themselves through strong civil societies.” 

“I think in the context of what we’re facing right now that’s a very, very damaging statement,” Giuliani said. 

Obama took his remarks further at the White House’s summit on countering violent extremism Thursday, staying that the U.S. is “not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”

“If you refuse to say there are extremist members of the Islamic religion, well then it sounds like you’re living on Mars,” Giuliani said.

— Updated at 10:05 a.m.