"For more than a year, you have heard me express some profound concern about the extreme rhetoric that has succeeded in infiltrating its way into our political process. That rhetoric is divisive," the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference.
"That rhetoric has been contrary to our values as Americans and deeply concerning, not just to people in the administration but to Democrats and Republicans all across the country," he said.
He was seen apparently giving the Nazi salute and declaring, "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!".
"I saw some of the reporting about this meeting that took place while we were out of the country. I think what I would say is that the President's view is that it's not just the responsibility of people in elected office to speak out against that kind of divisive, hateful rhetoric.
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Obama has said many times on the campaign trail, the slogan of his campaigns was not "Yes, I can" -- it was "Yes, we can".
"That was a nod to the collective responsibility that all Americans have to advance the interests of our country together; that change doesn't start from the top down -- it comes from the bottom up, and that all Americans have a responsibility to remain engaged in democracy and to be vigilant in defending the kinds of values that have served the country so well for 240 years," Earnest said.
"At our core, we share a commitment to a set of values that were endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that were all equal before the law, and that we're not going to be judged by the colour of our skin or the way we worship God. We're going to be judged by our character," he added.
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