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Obama: 'I'm Confident in the Wisdom of the American People' to Not Elect a Republican President

December 1, 2015

President Obama said he was "confident in the wisdom of the American people" to not elect a Republican to succeed him in 2016 during a press conference Tuesday in Paris.

"To put a finer point on the climate change question, can leaders gathered here believe that the United States will keep its commitments even after you've left office, if a Republican succeeds you in the White House?" a reporter asked.

Obama sighed.

"Just with respect to my successor, let me first of all say that I'm anticipating a Democrat succeeding me," Obama said, to laughter from the assembled press. "I'm confident in the wisdom of the American people on that front. But even if somebody from a different party succeeded me, one of the things that you find is when you're in this job, you think about it differently than when you're just running for the job.

"And, what you realize is what I mentioned earlier, that American leadership involves not just playing to narrow constituencies back home, but you are now at the center of what happens around the world."

It's part of a consistent theme in Obama's tone when addressing domestic politics while abroad, reserving his sharpest remarks for Republicans back home with his implication that only less intelligent people would elect a member of the GOP.

Obama might be less than pleased with recent results of a Fox News poll that showed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of state, losing head-to-head match-ups with Republicans Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.), former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.) and Dr. Ben Carson.

Update (12:41 p.m.): This article initially contained a typo referring to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as a former governor. It has been corrected.