Denzel Washington gives a press conference on Nov. 3, 2010 in Paris to promote his new movie “Unstoppable.”
Denzel Washington denied Wednesday that the Republican election rout was a slap in the face for President Barack Obama, saying it was a sign of frustration over a bad economy, reports the AFP.
“It is not a sanction,” the actor, who vocally supported Obama’s election bid in 2008, told a news conference in Paris the day after the mid-term vote.
“I think that the vote speaks more of people’s frustration about their own economic situation, about the frustration of the voters with all of the politicians in America.
“The number one priority in America and probably in most countries right now is jobs,” said Washington, who in 2002 became the second black actor to receive an Oscar after Sydney Poitier.
“People feel powerless so one way to exercise their power is through the vote. People want more checks and balances in the government.”
On the result of Tuesday’s vote, in which Republicans captured the House of Representatives and slashed the Democratic majority in the Senate, Washington predicted it would deliver good government for the next two years.
“Now we have a Republican congress, and we have a Democratic majority in the Senate, and we have a president with veto power so there are good checks and balances.”
The actor was in Paris to promote his new film “Unstoppable,” in which he plays the driver of a freight train loaded with flammable liquids who has to stop it from smashing into a densely-populated city.
Asked if he would like to play Obama on screen one day, Washington quipped: “I’m too old.”
