North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan admitted Thursday that she does not think President Barack Obama has shown strong leadership on some issues, but deftly dodged the question a few times, leading to jeers from "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough and his crew.
At first, when MSNBC reporter Kasie Hunt asked Hagan her opinion on the president's leadership, Hagan said that Obama "has a lot on his plate," because of the "oil spill that took place a number of years ago in the Gulf, to this Ebola crisis now, to ISIS gaining strength; I mean you look at all the combination of things like that,"
reports The Hill.
Then when Hunt asked the question again, Hagan said that the United States had "definitely been late to the table making decisions on" responding to the Ebola crisis, and finally, when Hunt asked a third time, Hagan said "certainly there are issues I think on... no."
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The White House said Thursday that Hagan's finally-admitted-out-loud words were a "testament to her character and leadership and her commitment to serving the people of North Carolina," and that she is entitled to her thoughts.
"Sen. Hagan is somebody that has a track record and credentials for getting results for the people of North Carolina, even if it means criticizing members of her own party," said press secretary Josh Earnest.
However, Earnest said that does not "necessarily agree with her assessment," as Obama "takes all these responsibilities very seriously," reports The Hill.
"I think if you look at the situation related to responding to Ebola, to putting in place measures that are driven by his administration to counter violent extremism, that there are a whole range of threats that the president takes very seriously, [he] has worked assiduously to protect the American people," Earnest said.
But on the "Morning Joe" show, where the segment aired Thursday, Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski mocked Hagan for her reluctant answers.
"These are not hard questions to answer,” said Scarborough. “But Kasie asks them in such a nice way. It was…wow.”
“With bullets in her eyes,” Brzezinski added in.
“Sometimes the simplest questions are the toughest,” Hunt commented to them.
Hagan, who is leading GOP challenger Thom Tillis by just under two percentage points in overall polling, according to
Real Clear Politics, is not the only Democrat putting space between his or her campaign and the increasingly unpopular Obama.
In Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes, running against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,
has decried Obama-backed EPA rulings that hinder her state's coal industry.
In Alaska, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, running in a close race against GOP challenger Dan Sullivan, told
The Washington Examiner this week that he disagrees with Obama in "many places," including when he "tried to take away our F-16s in Fairbanks. I disagreed with him. He wanted to fund the rebels in Syria. I disagreed with him. He wanted to do the gun control bill. I disagreed with him."
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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