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QUITO, Ecuador: The United States is too racist to elect Barack Obama president, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa says.

Correa, who studied in the U.S., told local news media late Wednesday that he "knows American society" and that Obama rival Hillary Clinton is more likely to defeat the Republican nominee, John McCain.

"They're still quite racist there," the leftist leader said.

Correa complimented Clinton, calling her a "very brilliant, beautiful and charismatic woman," but said Obama's positions are closer to his own. Clinton and Obama are battling it out for the Democratic nomination.

U.S. relations with Latin America will change "drastically" if a Democrat is elected in November, Ecuador's president said.

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"Both could be extraordinary candidates because they represent a break" from current President George W. Bush, but a Democratic presidency is "far from certain," Correa said.

Correa, 44, said he was "completely opposed" to McCain's positions, but suggested that his campaign was quite strong.

"He's a Vietnam war hero who doesn't have the wear and tear from powerful rivals in the primaries," like the eventual Democratic candidate, Correa said.

Correa — an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — obtained his doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, where he studied from the late 1990s until 2001.