Steve King: Obama ‘not raised with an American experience’

Rep. Steve King over the weekend told a crowd in his home state of Iowa that President Obama was not raised with an “American experience.”

King (R) said he would not “assert where [Obama] was born,” according to a video of the speech at an immigration rally posted on Buzzfeed, but questioned a 2007 picture of Obama listening to the national anthem without his hand over his heart. 

[WATCH VIDEO]

“I can tell you, his vision of American is not like our vision of America — that we know,” King said. “Now I don’t assert where he was born. But I will just tell you that we are all certain that he was not raised with an American experience. So these things that beat in our hearts when we hear the national anthem, and when we say the pledge of allegiance, doesn’t beat the same for him.”



Obama was born in Hawaii and spent a few years in Indonesia as a child. He released his long-form birth certificate during his first term, as questions swirled on the right about whether he had been born in the United States.



The photo King referenced came from an event in Iowa during Obama’s first presidential campaign. Obama, at the time, said he was taught to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance and to sing during the national anthem. 



”What was that about?” King asked about the photo. “Was that an act of defiance? I don’t think so. Some thought so.” 



“We grew up in this kind of a cultured environment when we hear our national anthem, we stop, we take our hats off,” he continued. “We place our hand over our heart and we gaze at the flag with admiration and appreciation for those who have gone before us and what they have done.”



The short clip did not offer the context in which King gave the remarks. The Iowa Republican has been a vocal opponent of comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.