Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday asserted that President Obama has irresponsibly enflamed race relations in the United States and wasted a unique opportunity to heal old wounds and bring Americans together.

The Texas Republican, a candidate for president in 2016, made those comments during an appearance in Washington hosted by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in the midst of continuing unrest between African-Americans and the police in Baltimore. Like Obama, whose mother was Caucasian and father an African from Kenya, Cruz is biracial — the son of a white mother and Hispanic father who was born and raised in Cuba.

During a question and answer session with USHCC President and CEO Javier Palomarez, Cruz alluded to his belief that Obama has been a racially divisive president. Asked by CNN's Dana Bash in a short news conference that followed if that's what he meant, Cruz didn't back down.

"I think he has not used his role as president to bring us together. He has exacerbated racial misunderstandings, racial tensions, from back at the beer summit to a series of efforts to pit Americans against each other. And, part of the problem is the way he advocates for any given plan, is to build a straw man of the opposition and then to vilify their position. So that, in the president's telling, anyone who opposes Obamacare wants people to be denied healthcare and to get sick and pass away. That's the only reason someone could oppose Obamacare, is because you malevolently want people to suffer," Cruz said. "When you come to the Iran deal, anyone that opposes this terrible Iran deal, must be because they want war. Dividing us over and over and over again is a dangerous approach for a president. It's an irresponsible approach for a president. I think we need to be looking to unity."

Earlier in the program, Palomarez asked Cruz to comment on the riots in Baltimore and other cities where African-Americans and the police have clashed, and specifically how he would address the "racial tensions that stubbornly, stubbornly, still exist in this country."

"What has been happening in Baltimore has been heartbreaking. And, you're seeing a city right now that is breaking," Cruz said, adding: "One of the things that has been very disappointing when it comes to questions of race relations: President Obama when he was elected, he could have been a unifying figure. He could have chosen to be a leader on race relations in the United States. And, he hasn't done that. He's made decisions that I think have enflamed racial tensions, that have divided us rather than bringing us together."