National Post (National Edition)
Obama offers stern rebuke of Trumpism
Ex-president calls for solution at the ballot box
Ending months of selfimposed restraint, former president Barack Obama delivered a blistering critique of President Trump and Republican politics Friday, one that prompted a back-handed dismissal by the man who now occupies the Oval Office.
Over the course of an hour-long address, Obama left little doubt about the severity of his concerns over Trump’s approach, which he referred to obliquely as “this political darkness.” He compared Trump to foreign demagogues who exploit “a politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment,” appeal to racial nationalism and then plunder their countries while promising to fight corruption.
“This is not normal. These are extraordinary times and they are dangerous times,” Obama said during the speech at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “But here is the good news: In two months we have the chance — not the certainty but the chance — to restore some semblance of sanity to our politics.”
Minutes after his predecessor unleashed his strongest repudiation yet, Trump responded jocularly.
“I’m sorry I watched it, but I fell asleep,” he said. “I found he’s very good. Very good for sleeping.”
Later, Trump returned to the sentiment during an event in Fargo, N.D.
“Isn’t this much more exciting than listening to President Obama speak?” he asked the crowd.
The back and forth between the two titular figures of American politics signalled a dramatic escalation ahead of November elections for the House, Senate and other seats.
Obama, kicking off weeks of voter turnout efforts, argued that his aim was not to get into a presidential spitting match, but to convince voters across the ideological spectrum that the conditions that gave rise to Trump’s election were a pressing threat and must be battled directly with increased citizen participation in politics. “It did not start with Donald Trump,” Obama said. “He is a symptom, not the cause.”
That did not stop him from denouncing what he saw as actions Trump had taken to undermine American progress, from the ban on travellers from certain Muslim countries to the failure to take action beyond sending “thoughts and prayers” after recent school mass shootings. He criticized Trump’s attacks on the press, his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords and his government’s response to the 2017 hurricane in Puerto Rico.
He acidly rebuked Trump for his public equivocation about white supremacists involved in a violent confrontation last year in Charlottesville, Va.
“How hard can that be? Saying that Nazis are bad?” Obama asked.
Beyond Trump, Republicans reacted sharply to the speech, arguing that Obama’s decision to return to the political arena could work in their favour. “The more President @BarackObama speaks about the ‘good ole years’ of his presidency, the more likely President @realDonaldTrump is to get re-elected,” tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C. “In fact, the best explanation of President Trump’s victory are the ‘results’ of the Obama Presidency!”
The speech was the first indication of the re-entry the former president and his wife Michelle have planned ahead of the midterm elections, a move filled with peril and opportunity as the most powerful duo in Democratic politics test whether they can help handicap Trump’s presidency without also motivating his supporters to the polls.
Trump has consistently used Obama as a foil on Twitter to energize his voters, while Democratic incumbent senators are struggling for re-election in states where Obama has never been particularly popular. Republicans also continue to use Obama’s image in campaign ads.
As Obama began to speak, Trump was travelling with reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight to Fargo. In a brief interview, the president called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to do more to defend his administration against internal critics, including the recent anonymous author of a critical op-ed in The New York Times.
“I would say Jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it’s national security,” Trump said.
He added that if the author has a high-level security clearance, “I don’t want him in those meetings.” Asked if he still trusts his White House aides, Trump said: “I do, but what I do now is I look around the room. I say, ‘Hey, if I don’t know somebody ...’ ”
Trump’s call on Sessions is an extraordinary step because the Justice Department, which is intended to act independently, does not usually investigate press leaks unless classified information is disclosed.
Obama, reacting to the op-ed account, said “that’s not how our democracy is supposed to work.”
“The claim that everything will turn out OK because there are people inside the White House who secretly aren’t following the president’s orders, that is not a check,” Obama said.
WE HAVE THE CHANCE ... TO RESTORE SOME SEMBLANCE OF SANITY.