UKIP leader Nigel Farage gave a backhanded compliment to President Obama when he said that many voters supported leaving the EU because Obama told them not to.
Threatening people too much insults their intelligence,” the United Kingdom Independence Party head said.
“A lot of people in Britain said, ‘How dare the American president come here and tell us what to do?’ ” Farage continued on Sirius XM’s “Breitbart News Daily,” citing Obama’s U.K. trip in April.
“It backfired. We got an Obama-Brexit bounce, because people do not want foreign leaders telling them how to think and vote.”
Britain on Thursday voted to leave the EU in a move experts predict will lead to worldwide financial uncertainty.
British Prime Minister David Cameron promptlyresigned Friday morning.
Obama warned Britain against leaving the EU during a visit in April, saying it could hurt potential trade deals with the U.S.
“The U.K. is going to be in the back of the queue,” he said during an appearance alongside Cameron.
“Not because we don’t have a special relationship but because given the heavy lift of any trade agreement, us having access to a big market with a lot of countries rather than trying to do piecemeal trade agreements is hugely inefficient.”
Donald Trump on Friday mocked Obama for being on the losing side in the Brexit vote.
“The world doesn’t listen to him,” the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said during a press conference in Turnberry, Scotland.
Trump said he wholeheartedly backed Britain’s decision to leave the EU and once again forge its own path.
“You just have to embrace it,” he said. “It’s the will of the people. What happened should have happened, and they’ll be stronger for it.”
Farage on Friday said Britain’s exit from the EU could ultimately jeopardize the organization’s existence.
“I think we’ve changed not just the future of British history, I’m sure the European Union project itself will come tumbling down. People power can beat the establishment if they try hard enough.”
Obama certainly has that reverse Midas touch. Recall his efforts to secure the Olympics for Chicago that ended in embarrassing failure.
After nearly eight years in the White House, President Obama can’t understand that the influence he has as president is a precious resource not to be wasted unless he is sure that he can make a difference. That includes efforts to influence domestic as well as foreign policy.
He is clueless about the power the presidency projects. He offhandedly creates a red line in Syria about chemical weapons and then loses all credibility when he fails to follow through. His ignorance has real-world consequences in that allies become disheartened and enemies emboldened.
He tried to treat the British people as wayward children by lecturing them and then threatening them with punishment. Farage may have been exaggerating the impact of the president’s miscalculation, but there is little doubt the president aided the “Leave” campaign.
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