On CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday, Robert Redford said congressional criticism of President Barack Obama is racially motivated.

“Don’t get me started on that,” the left-leaning actor said when asked about political gridlock in Washington, D.C. “What I wanted to see [in Obama’s second term] is turning out to be a bit of a dream that never came true. I don’t envy [Obama’s] position. I think he is a good man. I think he is an intelligent man, a compassionate man who can’t function in that environment. That environment — it is so decrepit. It is so paralyzed. And the worst of it is that it is paralyzed by intention. There’s a body of congressional people that want to paralyze the system. I think that what’s underneath it, unfortunately, is there is probably some racism involved, which is really awful.”

“I don’t know whether it’s an elephant,” Redford said. “It’s some kind of animal. Whatever it is, I think it’s in the room. But there are other issues there. It’s not just racism, I think. It’s a group of people that are afraid of change. And they’re so narrow-minded that some people, when you see change coming, get so threatened by change, they get angry and they get terrorized then they get vicious.”

When asked if Obama’s troubles stem from the fact that he doesn’t “look like the norm,” Redford agreed.

“Doesn’t look like the norm in their mind,” he replied. “But I think just the idea of giving credit to this president — giving him credit for anything is abhorrent to them, so they’ll go against it. Never mind the better good of the people. Never mind that they’re supposed to be in office representing the interest of the public. They’re representing their own self-interest, which are very narrow and in some cases just bigoted.”

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