Obama: Clinton to face unfair gender attacks if elected

President Barack Obama predicted that some of Hillary Clinton’s opponents will belittle her as overly emotional if she becomes the nation’s first woman president.
Obama’s critics falsely claimed he wasn’t born in the US During an appearance on TBS’ “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”, he was asked what the equivalent for Clinton will be.
“I think the equivalent will be ‘she’s tired, she’s moody, she’s being emotional,’” Obama said in the interview with Bee, which was taped last week.
Obama added that there’s a double standard in politics, where men are praised for being ambitious but women are not.
The president also said 18-year-old daughter Malia Obama has voted for the first time in this election. When asked what makes him angrier — Republicans trying to stop people from voting, or young people choosing not to — Obama said the latter.
“The truth of the matter is, even with voter ID laws and restrictive practices and making it harder for people to find where their polling place is, if you want to vote, you can vote,” Obama said.
Bee also asked if he ever thought about messing with Donald Trump by whispering in his ear: “You were right. I wasn’t born here.”
“I think it’s fair to say that I will be organizing my post-presidency where I’m not close enough to him to whisper in his ear,” Obama replied.
The latest clamor over Clinton’s e-mails has put Obama in a spot where no president wants to be: Caught between his attorney general, his FBI director and his preferred White House successor.
With accusations of political interference flying, Obama is trying to keep his distance as an internal government spat bursts into public view. In a bit of unwelcome irony, Obama’s strict adherence to the notion of judicial independence, preached throughout his years in office, has hamstrung his efforts to defend Clinton against a GOP onslaught.
Democrats hope Obama’s hands-off approach to the FBI forms a powerful contrast to Donald Trump, whose insistence that Clinton should be in prison seems to skip a few steps of due process. But on Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest was left to explain how Obama could be silent about an explosive issue.
“I’ll neither defend nor criticize what Director Comey has decided to communicate to the public about this investigation,” Earnest said, referring to FBI Director James Comey. During an hour-plus-long briefing that focused almost exclusively on Comey’s decision, Earnest used some version of that formulation — “neither defend nor criticize” — 10 times.
Criticism of Comey has mushroomed since his Friday bombshell, announced in a letter to Congress: The FBI is investigating more e-mails related to Clinton to see whether they contain classified information.
In a stunning airing of internal disagreement, some Justice Department officials blamed the FBI by making clear to reporters that they had cautioned Comey against notifying Congress just before next Tuesday’s election, and he’d ignored their advice.
Hillary Clinton, senior lawmakers and dozens of former prosecutors from both parties have all assailed Comey’s decision.
The e-mails were found during an unrelated investigation involving former Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of a close Clinton aide. But Comey’s letter said it was unclear what the e-mails would show or whether they’d be significant, leaving voters at a loss to know whether they should rethink their choice for president. Though investigators are rushing to review the e-mails, it’s uncertain if the investigation will wrap up before Election Day.
Deploying rhetorical gymnastics, Earnest said Obama believed strongly in centuries-old FBI and Justice Department traditions “that limit public discussion of investigations.” Yet Earnest declined to connect the dots by faulting Comey’s decision to pursue the opposite approach. Earnest argued he couldn’t second-guess the FBI director without knowing all the circumstances behind his decision.
Commenting any further on the unseemly clash would put Obama in the position of siding either with the FBI or with his Justice Department. And criticizing Comey for informing Congress about the new e-mails could elicit accusations that Obama was trying to put the thumb on the scale to help Clinton.
So the White House opted to praise both Comey — “he’s a man of good character,” Earnest said — and Lynch, while glossing over the difficult question voters now face about what and whom to believe. Obama was not expected to mention the issue during any of the half-dozen campaign stops he’ll make for Clinton between now and Election Day.
But Earnest did concede at least one point: Comey’s letter, intended to keep Congress in the loop, had backfired.
“Clearly it had the opposite of the intended effect,” Earnest said. “I think we can all agree on that.”

Source: Arab News