Thierry Mariani, The Republican Party MP, told Sputnik France that this endorsement was rather unexpected and reeks of double standards.
"The fact that a former head of a foreign state has endorsed one of the candidates is unexpected. Imagine for a second that Vladimir Putin endorsed Marine Le Pen – everyone would’ve screamed bloody murder. If a head of another country – for example, (Nicolas) Maduro – was to endorse Melenchon’s candidacy, everyone would’ve screamed bloody murder. But apparently Obama’s squeaky clean so no one said a world about it," Mariani said.
L'espoir est en marche. Merci @BarackObama. pic.twitter.com/0azZHLZLse
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) 4 мая 2017 г.
All in all, he added, this endorsement once again proves that Macron is a "system candidate."
"It also once again confirms that there are double standards at work here, because everyone would applaud a statement made by Obama, but if a similar statement was made by leaders of other countries everyone would’ve been shocked," he explained.
And last but not least, Mariani also pointed out that this development and the public reaction to it raise some very interesting questions about US neocolonialism.
"Imagine what would happen if a French minister were to endorse a candidate during elections in some African country. We would’ve been immediately accused of neocolonialism. So could we be looking at American neocolonialism? This question does come to one’s mind time to time, doesn't it?" Mariani said.