Look out, America. Barack is back! Yes, the 44th President of the United States has had enough of the shit-show currently occupying the Oval Office and is ready to take on Donald Trump and the GOP — just in time to “Make America Great Again” for the 2018 midterm election.
Politics
Since the end of World War II, an informal rule has existed in American politics: Ex-presidents don’t play partisan politics against their successors. Truman didn’t campaign against Eisenhower; Eisenhower didn’t speak out against Kennedy; Johnson stepped aside under Nixon; Carter let Reagan reign in peace.
That all changed last Friday night.
During a speech at the University of Illinois, former President Obama took direct aim at Donald Trump for the first time since leaving office and warned everyone that we’re living “in a divisive period in US history in which the powerful seek to divide to maintain the status quo.”
After spending more than a year of not even mentioning his name, Mr. Obama did not mince words when it came to Donald J. Trump.
“It did not start with Donald Trump,” Mr. Obama said. “He is a symptom, not the cause. He’s just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years.”
He then went on to characterize Trump and his Republican followers as bullies.
“We are Americans — we’re supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them,” Mr. Obama said. “We’re supposed to stand up to discrimination.”
As further proof that Barack is Back, Mr. Obama tackled last year’s Nazi rally in Charlottesville and Trump’s claims that “there are good people on both sides.”
“We’re supposed to stand up to discrimination, and we’re sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers,” Mr. Obama said. “How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?”
“If we don’t step up, things are going to get worse. In two months we have a chance to restore some sanity to our politics.” – Barack Obama
In conclusion, Mr. Obama enlightened students on the importance of their vote this November.
“One election will not fix everything that needs to be fixed,” Mr. Obama said. “But it will be a start. And you will have to start it. What’s going to fix our democracy is you. The biggest threat to our democracy is indifference. The biggest threat to our democracy is cynicism.”
His words painted the unusual picture of a former president openly working against his successor, as Mr. Obama officially launched an aggressive and high-profile challenge against Donald Trump and his party’s grip on statehouses and Congress.
Mr. ‘Barack is Back’ Obama has already appeared on behalf of Democratic congressional candidates in California and will stump for Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Richard Cordray on September 13th. Then, he will partake in an all-out stump for congressional redistricting with the goal of helping Democrats retake control of the US House of Representatives.
“President Obama hopes to use his standing across the country to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot this fall,’’ spokeswoman Katie Hill said. She added that the former two-term president will make the case that “this moment in our country is too perilous for Democratic voters to sit out.”
As the Democrat with arguably the highest profile to date and as the party elder with the most recent winning record, can Barack Obama reignite the magic that turned his presidency into a national “Yes We Can” movement? Will ‘Barack Is Back’ versus ‘Trump The Terrible’ etch out a win for a revived Democratic Party come November?
I’m sure it was a tough decision to go against history and battle with your successer. But I’m glad he is doing it. Now I want to see Obama team up with Kamalah Harris and Cory Booker and remake this Democratic party. We can take the house and the senate if we do things right.