President Barack Obama was "not prepared for the job," House Speaker John Boehner told a North Dakota radio station over the weekend, blasting the president for his foreign and domestic policies.
"When you look at this White House, you see incompetence at many levels," the Ohio Republican
told KTGO's Scott Hennen Friday. "Democrats, Republicans, nobody has a relationship with the White House."
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The problems facing the United States are being caused by a president who "thinks that giving a speech is leadership," when "it really isn't," Boehner said.
"It's not about Democrats versus Republicans," the speaker said. "It's a White House that's not very well organized and, frankly, not very effective as well."
Part of the problem with Obama, Boehner said, is that he won't admit that his policies are not working.
"The middle class in America is being squeezed," said Boehner. "Their salaries aren't going up, there are no new good jobs, but they're paying more for healthcare, they're paying a lot more for food, they're paying more for gasoline, and their disposable income is down. And it's holding our economy back."
Boehner also blamed global tensions on Obama's "apology tour" five years ago.
"He went to Europe and he went to the Middle East and apologized for American leadership and apologized for America being strong," Boehner said in the radio interview. "And look at the result. When America leads and America is strong, the world is a much safer place."
But, Boehner said, world leaders beg him every day about why America isn't leading.
"The world wants us to lead, but the president just won't do it," he said.
With Republicans the minority party in Washington — there is a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic-controlled Senate — Boehner said, adding "there's nobody more frustrated than I am."
Meanwhile, the House will likely proceed with its
planned lawsuit against Obama, Boehner said.
"This lawsuit we're about to file, probably right after Labor Day, is intended to rebalance the relationship between the Congress and the executive branch," Boehner said. "It's not about me versus the president, it's not about Republicans versus Democrats. The president has the authority to do executive actions but he doesn't have the authority to rewrite laws, which in my view, on a number of occasions he has."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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