President Barack Obama took veiled shots at
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump while marking 150 years since
the abolition of slavery.
Obama said Wednesday that "we betray the
efforts of the past if we fail to push back against bigotry in all of its
forms," in remarks celebrating the 150-year anniversary of the Thirteenth
Amendment, which ended slavery throughout the entire country.
It was an indirect reference to Trump, the
Republican presidential front-runner who has proposed banning all Muslims from
traveling to the United States in the wake of terror attacks in Paris and
California.
In another shot at Trump, Obama called on
Americans "to remember that our freedom is bound up with the freedom of
others -- regardless of what they looked like or where they come from or what
their last name is or what faith they practice."
His comments come the day after White House press
secretary Josh Earnest said Trump's anti-Muslim proposal should disqualify him
from the presidential race.
On Wednesday, Earnest said Obama's remarks weren't
added to his speech specifically to rebuke Trump.
But, he said: "I'm not going to wave you off
consideration of the idea that that message stands in quite stark contrast to
the rhetoric we hear from a variety of Republican candidates for
president."
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