Barack Obama Compares GOP Candidates To 'Grumpy Cat'

Referring to a popular Internet meme, President Barack Obama compared Republican presidential contenders to “Grumpy Cat." While speaking at the Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum on Friday, Obama criticized the GOP candidates for painting a pessimistic picture of the nation for political gain, the Hill reported.

“Why is it that Republican politicians are so down on America? Have you noticed that? I mean, they are; they are gloomy. They’re like Grumpy Cat,” Obama said, pouting and mimicking the viral sensation, ABC News reported. “Everything’s terrible, according to them. We’re doomed.”

During the forum, which was intended to rally the party ahead of 2016, Obama slammed the GOP candidates, accusing them of constructing an “entire separate reality.”

“It’s like 'The Twilight Zone,' and according to their story, their narrative, everything was terrific back in 2008 when unemployment was skyrocketing and uninsured rates were rising and folks were losing their homes and their jobs and we were engaged in two wars and Bin Laden was still at large,” Obama said, ABC News reported. “If you were listening to them, those were like the good old days, the golden years and then I came in and the Democrats came in -- but according to them, that’s when everything all went to heck.”

Obama’s attendance at the forum was his first appearance on the 2016 campaign trail since Wednesday, when Vice President Joe Biden announced that he would not be jumping into the race. While the president has sought to remain neutral in the 2016 race, Obama did appear to make a veiled jab at current GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

“We’ve got a system that ... rewards people for saying the most outrageous things, even though we know it’s not true. It’s entertaining, somehow. But people get cynical,” Obama said, as the Hill reported.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton received a warm welcome when she spoke at the forum earlier Friday. Clinton had endured a marathon of questioning from Republican lawmakers Thursday over the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.