OAN’s Brooke Mallory
12:07 PM – Sunday, June 18, 2023
On a Fox News Sunday program, Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina blasted former President Barack Obama for his handling of race and education.
The 2024 presidential candidate spoke with host Shannon Bream on the dismal health of public-school systems around the country, as well as some criticism levied at him by Obama last week.
“There’s no higher compliment than to be attacked by President Obama,” Scott said. “Whenever the Democrats feel threatened, they pull out – drag out – the former president, have him make some negative comments about someone running, hoping that their numbers go down.”
“The truth of my life disproves the lies of the radical left,” he added, referring to those who claim systemic racism is prevalent in the U.S.
Scott went on to criticize Obama and Democrats for opposing school choice initiatives in “big blue cities.” The candidate emphasized his own attempts to generate funds for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), but said that Obama and the “radical left” have failed to achieve outcomes in education.
“They have failed, they have failed, and they have failed,” he maintained.
The remarks came only days after Scott and Obama exchanged jabs regarding race. Scott reiterated his previous claim that the former president squandered a critical chance to foster racial reconciliation during his two terms in office.
“If anyone should be standing and shouting at the mountaintops that America is not a racist country, it should be the man that Americans supported twice for the nomination and becoming president. The evolution of America is palpable,” Scott said. “Progress in this nation is undeniable.”
Last week, Democrat strategist David Axelrod interviewed Obama on CNN and asked him what he thought of Scott’s remarks about race, prompting Obama to criticize Republicans and conservatives who are people of color (POC).
“I think there’s a long history of African American or other minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate America and say, ‘Everything’s great, and we can make it.’ Nikki Haley, I think, has a similar approach,” Obama told Axelrod. “I’m not being cynical about Tim Scott individually, but I am maybe suggesting the rhetoric of ‘Can’t we all get along’… that has to be undergirded with an honest accounting of our past and our present.”
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