"May his days be few" says US Senator David Perdue in regards to Obama leaving office

Even evangelicals should pray for President Barack Obama, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said at a gathering of religious conservatives on Friday.

"You know, I think we are called to pray. We are called to pray for our country, for our leaders, and yes, even our president," Perdue said during the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to the Majority conference in Washington. "You know, in his role as president, I think we should pray for Barack Obama."

But not just any prayer, he suggested, telling attendees that "we need to be very specific about how we pray."

"We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says, ‘Let his days be few, and let another have his office,'" Perdue said, to laughter and applause. "In all seriousness, I believe that America is at a moment of crisis."

The next two lines of Scripture: "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow" and "Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places."

Asked if he regretted his remarks in an interview afterward, Perdue answered: "Of course not."

"It was a little humor and I said it in a way that we were talking about his days as president," Perdue said. "So I said 'May his days be few,' and that’s a direct quote from the Scripture. And I set it up by saying, in relation to his being in the office of the presidency."

As far as the lines that followed the verse he quoted, Perdue said it is "really unfortunate" that people are reading those into his prayer.

"The way we set it up was to make sure that it wasn’t the case," he added. "There was no intention to be derogatory at all. It was a little humor.”

Perdue spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said after this article was first published that Perdue "in no way wishes harm towards our president and everyone in the room understood that."

"However, we should add the media to our prayer list because they are pushing a narrative to create controversy and that is exactly what the American people are tired of," she added.

Later in the afternoon, the White House weighed in on the remarks.

“I did make note of Senator Perdue's comments," press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. "As Senator Perdue considers whether or not an apology is appropriate, there a variety of other Scripture he might consult." Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/david-purdue-obama-pray-224185#ixzz4BU8T24ZX Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook