Former President Barack Obama broke his nearly two-year silence today and delivered a fiery speech explicitly criticizing President Trump and calling him out for views and policies that Obama said were racist, sexist and xenophobic.
The former President delivered his speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to a packed house of students.
Obama said that Trump was a threat to American democracy and a demagogue who capitalizes on the politics of resentment and fear.
In forcefully and unequivocally criticizing President Trump, Obama immediately assumed the mantle of the Democrats’ most powerful and authoritative spokesman heading into the November midterm elections.
Over the past two years Obama has taken quite a bit of heat from liberal activists who wanted the former president to do more by taking on President Trump directly. However, Obama has been reluctant to do so, citing the precedent of former presidents not directly addressing the performance of their successors.
That reticence is now over. With today’s forceful speech, Obama let it be known that he will not stand for the demagoguery and hate dished out on a daily basis by President Trump. He also made it clear that President Trump was wrong on climate change, which has seen Trump systematically weaken environmental protections and deliver vast giveaways to the oil and gas industry.
Obama also said that President Trump was balkanizing the nation by focusing on our worst fears and tribalism. He asserted that the President was only concerned with maintaining and expanding his own power. Referring to President Trump’s agenda, Obama said:
“It’s a vision that says the protection of our power and those who back us is all that matters even when it hurts the country.”
The most incisive part of Obama’s speech was when he said that President Trump is “a symptom, not the cause,” of our polarization, and that the President is simply capitalizing on fears and resentments that have plagued the nation for generations.
Obama also said these fears and resentments were due in part to the tremendous economic changes that have occurred in America over the past twenty years. The former president was referring to the shift away from manufacturing and toward a skilled knowledge economy. This shift has seen a vast service sector of low-wage jobs replacing what were once well-paid, unionized manufacturing jobs.
A key takeaway from Obama’s speech is that the Democrats have not as of yet seen any candidates rise to the national — indeed international — stature of Obama in the two years since his presidency.
Recent primary victories by young, progressive Democratic candidates of color are a positive sign of momentum, and they also signal the changing face of the Democratic Party. These victories include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York, Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Andrew Gillum in Florida and Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts.
However, all of these candidates are just beginning their national political careers, and they have nowhere near the stature of former President Obama.
Nor do any of the older guard of progressives within the Democratic Party who are frequently mentioned as 2020 presidential candidates, such as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or, slightly less progressively, Joe Biden.
Other potential 2020 Democratic challengers to President Trump include Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Senator Kamala Harris of California.
But none of these candidates, not a one, has the intelligence, charisma and dynamism of Barack Obama, not to mention an eight-year presidential track record that admittedly saw some compromises but also witnessed tremendous successes and achievements.
All of this is to say, in three words: thank you Barack.
In these turbulent times, when our institutions, the fabric of our democracy, and the thin veneer of civilization that binds us all together are under threat, we need your voice now more than ever.
So keep talking, keep traveling the country, and keep supporting progressive Democratic candidates, Mr. President.
You were gone for far too long, but we’re happy to have you back.
We won’t take this opportunity for granted, like so many did your presidency.
Where you go, we will follow. Of that you can be sure.
