Paul Ryan: Obama's State of the Union 'degrades the presidency'

Susan Page | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption House Speaker Paul Ryan responds to Obama State of the Union Speaker of the House Paul Ryan reacts to Obama's State of the Union and Gov. Nikki Haley's remarks in this episode of Capital Download with Susan Page.

WASHINGTON — In a scathing response to President Obama's State of the Union Address, House Speaker Paul Ryan told USA TODAY on Wednesday that the speech's political tone toward Donald Trump and the Republican presidential field "degrades the presidency."

Obama made comments unmistakably targeted at Trump, though he didn't mention the GOP front-runner by name in Tuesday's address. The president blasted as un-American and wrong-headed those who are "promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control."

Ryan said he agreed with Obama that Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigrants from the United States was a bad idea. "Putting a religious test on anybody coming to this country is wrong," the Wisconsin Republican said. "We ought to have a security test, not a religious test. That's who we are.

"But I think it sort of degrades the presidency to then talk about primary politics in the other party, during primaries. That's not what presidents ought to be talking about in State of the Union addresses," Ryan added. "Speaking up for our values and speaking up for our beliefs is one thing. But kind of wading into the primary politics of the other party is just not really what presidents ought to do."

Ryan sat down with Capital Download in the same gilded ceremonial room where congressional leaders had greeted Obama on Tuesday before he went into the House chamber to deliver his final State of the Union before a joint session of Congress, members of his Cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court and foreign ambassadors.

The speaker was trailed by his three children — 13-year-old Liza, 12-year-old Charles and 11-year-old Sam — visiting from the family's home in Janesville, Wis., and waiting patiently for him to finish so they could have lunch together in the Members Dining Room.

The State of the Union had been the first such official ritual since Ryan, 45, succeeded John Boehner as House speaker two months ago — a job he hadn't sought and wasn't sure he wanted. Indeed, the task of sitting just behind the president, keeping a poker face for an hour, was tough, he said: "I just basically wanted to be wallpaper."

But the next day, Ryan's blunt comments about Obama's message reflected a deep political divide about the state of the nation and its future.

Asked for a response, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama had been struck by "the tone of the political debate and the doom and gloom that some are peddling. The president wanted to address that head-on because he has never been more optimistic about the future of this country and the potential of the American people." He noted that the speech also included priorities the White House wants to pursue with Congress this year.

"I thought it was a fairly typical speech for the president," Ryan said. "Apparently ISIS is a bunch of guys riding around in trucks and a picture of a good foreign policy is Syria. I think he glossed over the economy. I think he glossed over our foreign-policy failures." Later he said, "That's the kind of speech he gives these days, and I think it really is divorced from reality."

He said Obama's arguments defending his record — and dismissing as "political hot air" accusations that the nation is in economic and military decline — didn't square with the realities many Americans see in their own lives. "What I don't think you got out of that speech is, people are really hurting," he said.

Those concerns are fueling Trump's surprising rise and political resilience, he said.

"I think people are really nervous. I think people are really anxious. And that's because they believe that the country as they know it, this American idea — the condition of your birth doesn't determine the outcome of your life ... so many people are worried that's leaving us.

"People are going to say, I want someone who understands the pain I feel and the anxiety I have and the fear I have that the country is going to lose a piece of its greatness," Ryan said. "I think that's more than a Republican thing. I think Democrats feel it the same way."

Ryan, who will be chairman of the Republican National Convention this summer, said "of course" he would support Trump if he wins the GOP nomination. "I respect the primary process," he said. "I respect the Republican primary voter."

He also defended South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, castigated by some conservative commentators for remarks she made in the official Republican response to the State of the Union. Haley, the daughter of immigrants from India, had urged Americans to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices." In an interview on NBC's Today show Wednesday, she acknowledged that Trump was one of those she had in mind.

"I think she's made her point pretty well, which is as conservatives we've got great principles, great ideas, and these are inspirational," he said. "These are optimistic ideas. These are inclusive ideas. And that means that we have a conservative set of philosophies and principles that give us policies that actually should be inclusive and appealing to people, and I believe what Nikki Haley did was go out and win converts to conservatism."

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