Former US President Barack Obama has warned his country of a"political crisis like we've never seen before" following the murder of Charlie Kirk, the BBC quoted him as saying. At an event in Pennsylvania, Obama said he did not know Kirk and did not agree with many of his views, but called the murder"horrific and a tragedy."
He criticized Donald Trump's remarks toward his political opponents and pointed to previous Republican presidents who, he said, emphasized national unity in times of high tension, US media reported.
In response, the White House called Obama"the architect of modern political division."
Speaking in Erie, Pennsylvania, Obama said:"I think in times like this, when tensions are high, part of the president's job is to bring people together."
He urged Americans to "respect the right of other people to say things that we deeply disagree with."
Obama praised Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a conservative Republican, who he said had shown"that it's possible to disagree while still adhering to a basic code of how we should engage in public debate."
He also approved of the response of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat whose official residence was firebombed earlier this year in a targeted attack.
The former president contrasted these reactions with comments made by Trump and his allies, BTV writes.
Obama said he did not use the 2015 mass shooting by a white supremacist at a church in South Carolina to go after his political enemies, and pointed out that after the September 11, 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush"stated explicitly, 'We are not at war with Islam.'"
In a statement to the BBC, a White House spokesman said:"Obama takes every opportunity to sow division and pit Americans against each other." "His division has inspired generations of Democrats to vilify their opponents as 'wretched', 'fascists' or 'Nazis'."
After leaving office, US presidents usually tend to tone down their criticism of their successors, but in recent months Obama has sharply criticized Trump's actions against universities and judges, and has also criticized Democratic Party leaders for not opposing the White House's policies more forcefully.
