Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum called President Barack Obama a “radical environmentalist” Sunday, in an effort to clear the air regarding some recent comments he made at a campaign appearance.
On Saturday, Mr. Santorum told a crowd of supporters in Ohio that he questioned the president’s “agenda,” and that he did not believe President Obama uses the teachings of the bible in enacting his policies. He told the crowd that the president’s agenda evolved from “some phony theology, not a theology based on the Bible.”
That comment caused many political analysts to question whether the former U.S. senator was trying to say that the president is not a Christian.
The Obama campaign team reacted to the comment, calling it another attack on the president’s religion by Republicans.
In the past Republicans have made personal attacks against the president, questioning the authenticity of his birth certificate and whether or not he is actually a Muslim. Mr. Santorum’s comments about “phony theology” were reminiscent of those personal attacks.
Mr. Santorum was also one of the biggest critics of the Obama administration’s recent federal contraception requirement regarding religious organizations covering the cost of birth control for female employees.
Appearing on CBS News’s “Face The Nation,” Mr. Santorum made it clear that his “phony theology” comment was not regarding religion, but actually was a reference to the president’s environmental “agenda.”
“I wasn’t suggesting the president’s not a Christian. I accept the fact that the president is a Christian,” said Mr. Santorum. “I was talking about the radical environmentalists. That’s what I was talking about. Energy, this idea that man is here to serve the Earth, as opposed to husband its resources and be good stewards of the Earth. And I think that is a phony ideal. I don’t believe that that’s what we’re here to do – that man is here to use the resources and use them wisely, to care for the Earth, to be a steward of the Earth, but we’re not here to serve the Earth.”
The president has been a prominent supporter of environmentally “green” practices and policies that prevent global warming and promote the use of clean energy.
In recent years, Republicans and Democrats have disagreed on global warming, with Republicans slamming Democratic support of federal spending on programs and organizations that deal with global warming.
Recently, Mr. Santorum was one of the Republicans to criticize the president’s decision to delay approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would transport oil from Canada to oil refineries in Texas. The pipeline would create jobs and reduce American dependence on foreign oil, however the president questions the environmental impact of the project.
Mr. Santorum believes decisions such as that one are what makes the president a “radical environmentalist,” as he stated Sunday.
“I’ve repeatedly said that I believe the president is a Christian. He says he is a Christian. But I am talking about his worldview or the way he approaches problems in this country and I think they’re different than how most people do in America,” said Mr. Santorum.
The former senator leads rival candidate Mitt Romney in recent national polls of Republican voters, and will be in Arizona Tuesday for a presidential debate moderated by CNN.
