US President Barack Obama doesn't think racism is an "overriding issue" in criticism of his polices, according to TV interviews to be broadcast Sunday as part of a media blitz pushing the White House's health care reform. "Are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are. That's not the overriding issue here," Obama insisted in an excerpt of an interview to be broadcast on the CNN show "State of the Union."
The US leader, in a bid to shore-up popular support for health care reform, is taking to all five major Sunday news shows this weekend, after commandeering prime-time television earlier this month with a major address to Congress on the issue. Obama has been prompted to weigh in on the controversial issue of race after former president Jimmy Carter claimed racism was driving demonstrations and rhetoric on the president's health care reform plans and spending policy.
"The overwhelming part of the American population" is more concerned with how the health care reform proposals will affect them, Obama said according to an interview excerpt released by ABC News. "There's been a long-standing debate in this country that is usually that much more fierce during times of transition or when presidents are trying to bring about big changes," Obama told CNN, in an excerpt released Friday by the news network.
"The things that were said about FDR (former US president Franklin Roosevelt) are pretty similar to the things that are said about me - he was a communist, he was a socialist," Obama said. "Things that were said about (former US president) Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the New Deal programs were pretty vicious as well," he added.