--- title: Barack Obama Spokesman Say Rudy Giuliani Criticism Is Sad description: Josh Earnest said it's "sad" to see the former mayor of New York "tarnish his reputation so thoroughly" canonical: https://time.com/3717064/barack-obama-rudy-giuliani/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-20T19:48:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:35:37.398Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Says Giuliani Criticism Is Just 'Sad' og:description: Giuliana said President Obama doesn't love America og:url: https://time.com/3717064/barack-obama-rudy-giuliani/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Says Giuliani Criticism Is Just 'Sad' twitter:description: Giuliana said President Obama doesn't love America twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # White House Says Giuliani Criticism Is Just 'Sad' by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 20, 2015 7:48 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 20, 2015 7:48 PM UTC White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that he feels “sorry” for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has spent the past couple of days publicly questioning President Barack Obama’s love for America. Earnest said it’s “sad” when someone who has attained a “certain level of stature or admiration tarnishes that reputation so thoroughly.” Giuliani first said he wasn’t sure the President “[loves America](http://time.com/3714734/rudy-giuliani-barack-obama/)” on Wednesday, saying that he “wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up or I was brought up.” On Thursday, Giuliani did some damage control, walking back some of his statements, but maintaining that the President is overly critical of the country.” “From the way he talks,” Giuliani said Thursday on [Bloomberg](http://time.com/3716050/rudy-giuliani-obama-remarks/), “it sounds to me like a guy who has trouble expressing love for America.” Earnest noted that the President has on many occasions expressed his love for the country—saying he did so most recently at the end of the State of the Union address, when he said, “God bless this country we love.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3717064/barack-obama-rudy-giuliani/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3717064/barack-obama-rudy-giuliani/"},"headline":"White House Says Giuliani Criticism Is Just 'Sad'","datePublished":"2015-02-20T19:48:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:35:37.398Z","description":"Giuliani said President Obama doesn't love America","url":"https://time.com/3717064/barack-obama-rudy-giuliani/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3717064/barack-obama-rudy-giuliani/","name":"White House Says Giuliani Criticism Is Just 'Sad'"}}]}] ```