Obama hesitates

Taking a shot at Trump does not come easy (link to story)

"Why Obama says 'That's not who we are'"

USA Today Opinion: Simply put, “that’s not who we are” performs a very difficult rhetorical maneuver: It’s a way to call a policy, idea, or person un-American without using that harsh term. It subtly conveys what would otherwise be an incendiary claim.

Calling people un-American, or challenging their love for America, thus runs afoul of liberal lore and Obama’s own rhetorical code. So he reaches for a subtle phrase with less baggage.

“That’s not who we are” implicitly accuses political opponents of being apart from the American ideal, of being “other.” There’s no argument for why the targets are un-American, or what they are instead (Communist? Kenyan? Canadian?). It’s enough for those five syllables to challenge the American-ness of whatever idea or policy the president dislikes, and the informal language makes the act of exclusion hard to detect, a stealth test of national identity.

Obama is certainly justified in making claims based on specifically American values. But it is important to recognize that this is what he’s doing, because accusing others of being “un-American” diverges from his party’s history and his earlier rhetoric.

In their own minds, that’s not who they are.

In left field... that's not who we are