Obama Backs French Candidate Emmanuel Macron

Former U.S. President Barack Obama has endorsed the progressive Emmanuel Macron in French’s presidential election run-off. “I have admired the campaign that Emmanuel Macron has run. He has stood up for liberal values,” Obama said in a video posted by the Macron campaign on Twitter. In a jab at Macron’s far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, Obama said Macron “appeals to people’s hopes, and not their fears.” The former president added that he does not plan on taking a side in foreign elections, but said the French campaign was “very important to the future of France and the values that we care so much about.”