Gingrich: Obama has 'psychological need' to ignore 'Islamic extremism'

Former Speaker of the House and erstwhile presidential candidate Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) accused President Barack Obama of having "almost a psychological need" to ignore "the realities of Islamic extremism."

In an appearance on "The Sean Hannity Show," Gingrich made the case that Obama is failing to rise to the challenges posed by what Gingrich believes is an increasingly restive Middle East. The former Speaker asserted that the president is neglecting to address the problems posed by militant Islamists, and seemed to imply that perhaps Obama feels a kinship with these anti-Western forces.

"President Obama," he said, "has almost a psychological need to be totally blind to the realities of Islamic extremism. It is astonishing to me how consistently he rejects all the information which would teach him that there are people out there who actually want to kill us. And it’s, I mean, it is so beyond any reasonable way to explain it that it’s almost as though he has a desperate need to believe in something which is totally false."

Gingrich has alleged before that Obama has a "Kenyan, anti-colonial" mindset, and called the president's perspective on the world "factually insane."

Watch the clip, embedded via NewsBusters, below: