Obama suggests Trump is held back by 'racism and mommy issues'

Barack Obama has suggested Donald Trump is held back from addressing challenges such as climate change because of racism and “mommy issues”.

Being interviewed on stage at an event organised by his own foundation, the former president was asked why the country was not making better progress on a variety of issues, that he said could be at least partly addressed by more effective use of technology and investing in people.

“The reason we don’t do it is because we are still confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism, mommy issues,” Mr Obama said.

“We are fraught with stuff, and so if that is the case, then the single most important thing we have to invest in is…people. We have got to get people to figure out how they work together in a cooperative, thoughtful, constructive way.”

The 44th president did not mention the 45th by name, but Mr Obama’s remarks were widely interpreted to be aimed at Mr Trump. The Obama Foundation did not immediately respond to questions about the former president’s comments, made on Monday night in conversation with novelist Dave Eggers, and first reported by Mail Online.

It is known the two men have little affection for each other. During the recent midterm elections, the pair fired off attacks at one another while travelling the country.

“America is at a crossroads,” Mr Obama said in Indiana. “The character of our country is on the ballot.”

Mr Trump snapped back, telling his supporters in West Virginia, that his predecessor had attracted only a “very small crowd”.

The two also differ very strongly in their views about climate change, and how to deal with it. In his 2015 State of the Union address, Mr Obama said: “No challenge – poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.”

By contrast, Mr Trump has previously described climate change as a hoax create by the Chinese. One of his first acts as president, was to take the US out of the 2016 Paris Agreement, which has been signed by 195 nations, and which commits to seeking to limit climate change to a rise of 1.5 °C

In his comments on Monday night, Mr Obama also took a second dig at the man who replaced him.

“I said this to people before. If you had to be born at any moment in human history and you didn’t know ahead of time whether you’d be black, white, Asian, Latino, you didn’t know whether you — what country you would be from — or you’re male or female or gay or straight. And you just said — alright, well you’re blind, you’re behind a veil. When do you want to be born,” he said.

“You’d choose now. Or maybe two years ago.”

He quickly added: “That was a joke.”