Former GOP lawmaker says Obama got elected because he was black

Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh (Ill.) said Saturday that former President Obama was elected because of his skin color. 

“Barack Obama did,” the conservative radio and TV host said on Twitter in response to a user who stated that politicians don’t get elected because they’re black.

Barack Obama did. https://t.co/sDJy6t1G50

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) May 23, 2018 

{mosads}Walsh, who served in Congress during both of Obama’s terms, has made similar racially driven suggestions in the past.

In a 2011 interview, Walsh said Obama was only elected because he was “a black man who was articulate,” suggesting that he wouldn’t have risen to political prominence by being a “dynamic, white” state senator. 

Walsh also had his TV show, “The Joe Walsh Show” pulled from the air for a time for using several racial and ethnic slurs.