Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) took a jab at former President Obama this week after the Democrat criticized the declared 2024 GOP presidential contender over his remarks about race and racial progress in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet us not forget we are a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression. Democrats deny our progress to protect their power. The Left wants you to believe faith in America is a fraud and progress in our nation is a myth,\u201d Scott said in a statement Thursday.
\u201cThe truth of MY life disproves the lies of the radical Left. We live in a country where little Black and Brown boys and girls can be President of the United States. The truth is \u2013 we\u2019ve had one and the good news is \u2013 we will have another,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The South Carolina Republican\u2019s remarks are in response to comments Obama made during a podcast interview with his former White House senior adviser David Axelrod published Thursday. The former president, who was asked about Scott\u2019s messaging on race, suggested Scott was not offering solutions for how to tackle systematic racism within the country or acknowledging the difficulties Black Americans face.
\u201cAnd so if a Republican, who may even be sincere in saying, \u2018I want us all to live together,\u2019 doesn\u2019t have a plan for how do we address crippling generational poverty that is a consequence of hundreds of years of racism in this society, and we need to do something about that. If that candidate is not willing to acknowledge that, again and again, we\u2019ve seen discrimination in everything from \u2026 getting a job to buying a house to how the criminal justice system operates,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf somebody\u2019s not proposing, both acknowledging and proposing, elements that say, \u2018No, we can\u2019t just ignore all that and pretend as if everything\u2019s equal and fair. We actually have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.\u2019 If they\u2019re not doing that, then I think people are rightly skeptical,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott has argued that Black Americans are making rapid progress within the U.S., suggesting Democrats are underestimating how far Black Americans have come. But Scott has previously received pushback over his comments, including on \u201cThe View,\u201d when co-host Joy Behar argued that the senator \u201cdoesn\u2019t get it\u201d on systemic racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n