Image via Complex Original
When you're president, insults are a dime a dozen.
They'll come from the politicians you walk by every morning in the White House halls, a world leader you just shook hands with two months earlier, political pundits, and everyday Americans. George W. Bush had an onslaught of insults thrown his way—from anything about his stu-stut-stuttering, to his tendency to mix up words, to getting called a "dumb fuck" by one of the Dixie Chicks. Bill Clinton, too, took a lot of flack as president (a general called him a "dope-smoking," "skirt-chasing," "draft-dodging" Commander in Chief), and he still puts up with shit to this day (Justin Bieber once said "Fuck Bill Clinton" while pissing in a bucket).
President Barack Obama isn't immune to insults either, and had countless slights thrown his way before he was even elected. Considering the rise of the social era, these disses aren't getting swept under the rug anytime soon.
Here are the most insulting things politicians have said about President Obama.
"I cannot even stand to look at you." (Right to President Obama's face.)
When: October 2013
Who: Rep. Pete Sessions
During a private meeting with the president, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas allegedly told Obama, "I cannot even stand to look at you," according to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Obama reportedly told Sessions that he understood that they didn't see eye-to-eye, but respected their differences.
Obama is a godless “enemy of humanity.”
When: November 2009
Who: Rep. Trent Franks
During a "How to Take Back America" conference, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona called on President Obama to release his birth certificate and then attacked his views on abortion. "Obama's first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers' money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries," he said.
"Now, I got to tell you, if a president will do that, there's almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn't be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can't do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity."
"You Lie!"
When: September 2009
Who: Rep. Joe Wilson
South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's choice of words isn't exactly the worst thing anyone's ever said about President Obama. Instead, what ups the "disrespect factor" here is where he said it: during Obama's health care speech in front of Congress. The look on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's face when he shouts "You lie!" says it all.
Republicans and Democrats condemned him for the outburst, and he later called the White House to apologize—though Obama let Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accept the apology on his behalf.
"It’s like touching a tar baby."
When: August 2011
Who: Rep. Doug Lamborn
Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado went on a state wide radio program, and used the racially-charged term, "tar baby":
Even if some people say, “Well, the Republicans should have done this, or should have done that,” they will hold the President responsible. Now, I don’t even want to be associated with him, it’s like touching a, a tar baby and you get it… you know you’re stuck and you’re part of the problem and you can’t get away.
He's "thin-skinned" and a "failed president."
When: January 2012
Who: Gov. Jan Brewer
When Arizona Governor Jan Brewer greeted President Obama on a tarmac in Phoenix, the two allegedly got into a disagreement. Obama reportedly had a bone to pick with Brewer about her 2011 book, where he says she inaccurately described two meetings between them. "He brought up my book, and he was a little tense. I asked him if he read my book, Scorpions for Breakfast, and he said he read the excerpt and he didn't think that I was very cordial," Brewer told KFYI radio. "He was somewhat thin-skinned and a little tense to say the least. I was trying to be very calm." She later repeated the line during multiple interviews on Fox News.
Just before the end of 2014, she took another shot at Obama, calling him a "failed president." Take a guess what television network she said it on.
Obama follows "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior."
When: September 2010
Who: Former House Speaker Newt Gringrich
After a Forbes article by Dinesh D’Souza dropped in September 2010, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told the National Review Online that D'Souza had "stunning insight" into the Obama presidency, adding, "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?"
"This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president," he continued.
Obama has to "learn how to be American."
When: July 2012
Who: Former Gov. John Sununu
During a Mitt Romney campaign conference call, former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, played off the myth that President Obama is a foreigner as he discussed jobs. “The men and women all over America who have worked hard to build these businesses, their businesses, from the ground up is how our economy became the envy of the world. It is the American way. And I wish this president would learn how to be an American."
He "has no idea how the American system functions... because he spent his early years in Hawaii smoking something."
When: July 2012
Who: Former Gov. John Sununu
The former governor continued to throw shade at the president when he appeared on Fox News later the same day: "[Obama] has no idea how the American system functions, and we shouldn’t be surprised about that, because he spent his early years in Hawaii smoking something, spent the next set of years in Indonesia, another set of years in Indonesia, and, frankly, when he came to the U.S. he worked as a community organizer, which is a socialized structure, and then got into politics in Chicago.”
"Now you know why—No birth certificate."
When: April 2011
Who: GOP official Marilyn Davenport
GOP official Marilyn Davenport forwarded an email containing a picture featuring President Obama's face Photoshopped onto a family of chimps.
She added the tagline: "Now you know why—No birth certificate."
Witch doctor drawing of Obama was only making fun of his "white half."
When: October 2013
Who: GOP official Don Yelton
North Carolina Republican Party official Don Yelton was interviewed by The Daily Show about a new state law that requires voters to bring photo I.D. When correspondent Aasif Mandvi asked Yelton if he was racist, he replied, "One of my best friends is black." He then went on to admit that he had a drawing of President Obama dressed as a witch doctor, but that it was making fun at Obama's “white half, not his black half.”
He later resigned after the interview aired.
"The food stamp president."
When: December 2011
Who: Former House Speaker Newt Gringrich
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich went on CNBC at the end of 2011 to criticize the rise of people on food stamps, attributing the problem to President Obama: “We are going to have the candidate of food stamps, the finest food stamp president in American history, in Barack Obama, and we are going to have a candidate of paychecks.”
Though he was right about the rise of families on food stamps, it's considered that the rise started during the Bush Administration.
Rep. Paul Broun Compares Obama to "Hitler," calls him a "Marxist."
When: November 2008
Who: Rep. Paul Broun
Just after Obama won the 2008 election, Republican Rep. Paul Broun didn't want the cries of Tea Partiers to fade away, so he added some fuel to the fire when he gave an interview to the AP. “It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” he said. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may—may not, I hope not—but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.” He was referring to a speech when Obama, then-Democratic nominee, said he supports having a civilian national security force.
“That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany, and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did," he continued. "When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.” He later apologized.
He's "palling around with terrorists.”
When: October 2008
Who: Gov. Sarah Palin
Governor Sarah Palin, who was then John McCain's running mate (and worst mistake) ripped into Barack Obama while on the campaign trail for his past associations with Bill Ayers, a professor from Chicago who used to be a member of the radical group, Weatherman Underground.
This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America. We see America as the greatest force for good in this world. If we can be that beacon of light and hope for others who seek freedom and democracy and can live in a country that would allow intolerance in the equal rights that again our military men and women fight for and die for for all of us. Our opponent though, is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country?
Obama "perverts 'prosecutorial discretion'" for inviting undocumented immigrant to sit with Michelle Obama.
When: January 2015
Who: Congressman Steve King
Congressman Steve King of Iowa tweeted this just hours before the 2015 State of the Union address, in reference to the president inviting Ana Zamaro, a 20-year-old student who recently was granted temporary legal status thanks to Obama's executive action on immigration, to sit with the First Lady.
#Obama perverts "prosecutorial discretion" by inviting a deportable to sit in place of honor at #SOTU w/1st Lady. I should sit with Alito.
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) January 20, 2015
