Spain ex-leader ripped for Barack Obama comment

MADRID - Spain’s former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar drew criticism Wednesday by reportedly referring to what he called the "historic exoticism" of Barack Obama’s election as US president.

Aznar was asked by a journalist from the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair magazine about the election in November of the first black president of the United States.

"A historic exoticism and predictable economic disaster," replied the conservative former leader.

"Obama is a person of black race who managed to become president of the United States, which is an extraordinary change for them", he said, without indicating whether he was referring to the people of the United States as a whole or just black Americans.

But Aznar, a close ally of outgoing US President George W. Bush during the invasion of Iraq, said it also "proves that the American dream still exists."

The deputy head of Spain’s ruling Socialist Party, Jose Blanco, demanded Aznar withdraw the comments "which can only come from a deeply reactionary person, with clear racist roots.

"It is also odd that the defender, with Bush, of the economic model which has brought us to this international crisis, dares to predict a disaster" through Obama’s policies, he said.

Aznar has a history of controversial statements and gaffes. Last October, he dismissed climate change as a "new religion" that is drawing hundreds of billions of euros at a time of economic crisis.

He has also asked why Muslims have never apologized for having conquered Spain and occupied it for eight centuries.

And he has attacked the Socialist government’s campaign to control speeding and drink-driving.

In 2006, he batted away a female journalist’s question about armed Basque separatist group ETA by slipping a pen into her decollete.