Veteran crooner Andy Williams lambasts 'Marxist' Barack Obama

Veteran crooner Andy Williams lambasted Barack Obama today, accusing the US president of "following Marxist theory" and "wanting the country to fail".

Williams, a lifelong Republican, told the Radio Times he thought President Obama wanted to turn the US into a "socialist country".

The 81-year-old, whose hits include Moon River and Music To Watch Girls By, was a friend of the Kennedy family during the 1960s and was present at the Los Angeles rally where Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

"I was very close to Bobby and he asked me to be a delegate for him when he ran for president," he told the magazine.

"He knew about me being a Republican, but just laughed and said, 'Sign yourself in as a Democrat and then change back afterwards'. Sadly, I never got to do that.

"I was very close to Teddy Kennedy, too, and his death recently brought it all back. What a tragedy. Had he lived, I think Bobby would have been a great president."

Williams has a rather less favourable opinion of the current President.

"Don't like him at all," he said, "I think he wants to create a socialist country. The people he associates with are very left-wing. One is registered as a Communist.

"Obama is following Marxist theory. He's taken over the banks and the car industry. He wants the country to fail."

The full interview appears in this week's Radio Times, on sale today.