Republicans are expressing outrage after a Democratic senator in a tight re-election campaign in Louisiana said that US president Barack Obama has struggled politically in the south because of his race.
“To be very, very honest with you, the south has not always been the friendliest place for African Americans,” senator Mary Landrieu told NBC News. “It’s been a difficult time for [president Obama] to present himself in a very positive light as a leader.”
She went on to say that it is also difficult for women to align themselves in these conservative-leaning states. “It’s not always been a good place for women to present ourselves,” said Landrieu. “It’s more of a conservative place, so we’ve had to work a little bit harder on that.”
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, said in a statement that Landrieu’s comments were “remarkably divisive”.
“She appears to be living in a different century,” Jindal said. “Implied in her comments is the clear suggestion that President Obama and his policies are unpopular in Louisiana because of his ethnicity. That is a major insult by Senator Landrieu to the people of Louisiana and I flatly reject it.”
Landrieu is in a close race with Republican challenger Bill Cassidy. Due to Louisiana’s fairly unusual election laws, if neither candidate reaches 50% of the vote on election day, the campaign will be decided in a runoff in December.
Cassidy appeared on Fox News on Thursday night and said that Obama’s unpopularity does not have to do with race, that it’s his policies that are unpopular. “We’re not racist, we just have common sense,” Cassidy said.
Louisiana Republican Party chairman Roger Villere said Landrieu’s comments were, “insulting to me and to every other Louisianian”.
“Louisiana deserves better than a senator who denigrates her own people by questioning and projecting insidious motives on the very people she claims to represent,” Villere said. “Senator Landrieu and President Obama are unpopular for no other reason than the fact the policies they advance are wrong for Louisiana and wrong for America.”
In a statement released by her campaign late Friday, Landrieu appeared to walk back her remarks, at least to a degree.
“The main reason the President has struggled here is because his energy policies are not in line with the people of Louisiana,” Landrieu said in the statement. “We are a pro-drilling, pro-oil, gas state. The offshore moratorium was extremely unpopular and, in my opinion, wholly unwarranted. It made a lot of people angry and put many businesses at risk. In addition, the south has not always been the friendliest or easiest place for African Americans to advance, and it’s been a difficult place for women to be recognized as the leaders we are. Everyone knows this is the truth, and I will continue to speak the truth even as some would twist my words seeking political advantage.”
