Obama goes after Cruz for urging patrols of Muslim neighborhoods

President Obama on Wednesday delivered a sharply personal rebuke of GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz for his call to institute surveillance on Muslim communities in response to the Brussels terrorist attacks.

During a press conference in Argentina, Obama called such a proposal “wrong and un-American” and said it would undermine the U.S. campaign against Islamic extremists.

Obama invoked Cruz’s Cuban heritage, arguing the Texas senator was ignoring the personal journey of his father, who fled the island nation for the United States to escape political oppression. 

“I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which, by the way, the father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America,” the president said. “The land of the free. The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense.”

Cruz said Muslim neighborhoods should be put under special watch by authorities in order to preempt any future attacks in the U.S. 

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump backed Cruz on the patrols and renewed his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country and for waterboarding to be used on terrorism suspects. 

The proposals touched off a fierce political debate, with Democrats accusing Trump and Cruz of encouraging Islamophobia to win over conservative votes.

But Obama indicated he would not make significant changes to his anti-ISIS strategy "simply because it's political season."

The president said defeating the group is his “No. 1 priority,” but it must be done in a “smart” way. “As our strategy evolves and we see additional opportunities, we will go after it,” Obama said. 

But he said the U.S. should not “take approaches that will be counterproductive," such as carpet-bombing Middle Eastern countries, an idea Cruz proposed. - Read More at the hill

Obama goes after Cruz for urging patrols of Muslim neighborhoods

Dem compares Cruz's Muslim proposal to WWII internment camps