President acknowledges 'difficult week' in U.S. during abbreviated visit to Spain

MADRID, July 10 (UPI) -- During a diplomatic visit to Spain that will be cut short due to unrest at home, President Barack Obama acknowledged "we've had a difficult week in the United States."

"I want to thank you dearly for visiting us and very specially for maintaining this visit given the present particular circumstances," Spain's King Pelipe said during a visit in Madrid, The Hill reported.

"We've had a difficult week in the United States," the president said. "I wish I could stay longer."

Obama plans to fly to Dallas later this week where five police officers were killed during a Black Lives Matter rally. He said the trip to Spain was important because of the close relationship between the two countries.

Responding to Spanish media about the work to form a government in Spain and about the presidential election back home, Obama said it was not for him to figure out the ins and outs that go with negotiations to form a Spanish government.

"I'm very confident that whatever government emerges, we'll be able to work with them effectively on a whole range of issues," the president said. "As you point out, I've got my own politics to worry about back home."

As for the election, he said, that is for the American people to ultimately decide.

"What I would say is I have great confidence in the American people, their goodness," the president said.

"Their values. Their decency. Their common sense. Although our political process is messy and dominated by too much money and it lasts too long, there's a lot of rhetoric that is all over the place. At the end of the day I think people recognize the importance of the office of the president, and that the United States occupies a unique role in the world, and will take that decision about who sits in the Oval Office very seriously," h saod/