Gingrich: Obama 'absolutely' a citizen and Christian, but may confuse people

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Spanish-language television that President Obama "absolutely" was born in the United States and is a Christian, adding that Obama should look at what he's doing that may lead so many to brand him a Muslim.

"If I were the president that would really concern me, not because of Fox News or talk radio or Rush Limbaugh, but what is there that he's doing that would let that many people be confused?" Gingrich said on Univision's "Al Punto." "I mean, I totally take him at his own word. And certainly all the evidence we have is he went to a Christian church in Chicago and he goes to Christian churches in Washington.

"I think some of this stuff is just a sign of how much fear and anxiety has built up, but I think the president has an obligation to slow down and say, if you're president of all the people, what is it the White House is doing that so frightens a third of the Republican Party that they don't even believe something as simple and as obvious as his self-professed religious belief," Gingrich added. "I think that's sad, frankly."

Gingrich said Obama is "vaguely a socialist in the European sense," and pegged the president as "clearly more radical than Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton."

He also called the DREAM Act "an entirely political manipulation by Harry Reid" and said "Republicans have to be articulate enough to say we have to solve the challenge of undocumented workers, undocumented children."

A potential 2012 presidential hopeful, Gingrich said that Republicans had the platform to win the Hispanic vote.

"I think if you campaign in most neighborhoods in America, whether they're Latino, or they're Anglo or they're African American or whatever, if your choice is food stamps or paycheck, I think virtually every Latino voter would prefer a paycheck," Gingrich said.