Obama administration officials say presidential candidate Ben Carson deserves increased media scrutiny but disagree that their boss got a free pass from the media in 2008.
“It’s not easy to run for president. It shouldn’t be,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during the press briefing on Monday. “And people, when they make public comments, are going to have their claims scrutinized even if they are claims about their own biography. And that’s part of the process.”
When asked about Carson’s claim that his biography was already more scrutinized by the media than Obama’s, Earnest denied it. He also hinted that Obama had to undergo speculations about his origin of birth, which was something Carson wasn’t suffering.
“It was difficult when those questions were raised about Senator Obama,” he said. “I guess in 2008, I recall a situation in which it was less the claims of President Obama that were being questioned and more that the claims about him were difficult to disprove, at least to the satisfaction of our harshest critics.”
When asked if the questions Carson was facing were appropriate, Earnest agreed.
“I happen to think that they are,” he said. “But ultimately, that’s for the American people to judge.”
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