Sunday while giving the commencement address at Rutgers University, without naming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, President Barack Obama bemoaned “building walls” and policies that call for “isolating or disparaging Muslims.”
Obama said, “The world is more interconnected than ever before, and it’s becoming more connected every day. Building walls won’t change that.”
He continued, “Isolating or disparaging Muslims, suggesting they should be treated differently when it comes to entering this country that is not just a betrayal of our values that is just a betrayal of who we are. It would alienate the very communities at home and abroad who are most important in fighting the war against extremism.”
Obama added, “Facts, evidence, reason, logic and understanding of science, those are good things. These are qualities you want in people making policy…We traditionally have valued those things, but if you were to listen to today’s political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from. So, class of 2016, let me be clear as I can be: In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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