Obama is stumping for Democrats
Obama en campagne derrière les démocrates
Le président sortant fait campagne pour les démocrates.
The prospects for a blue wave are bullish.
Barack Obama est de retour sur la scène politique. À quelques semaines des élections de mi-mandat, l’ancien président américain s’est retroussé les manches pour faire campagne pour le Parti démocrate. Il a notamment prononcé le 7 septembre dernier à l'Université de l'Illinois un discours très remarqué appelant les Américains à aller voter pour contrer la « noirceur politique » actuelle. La popularité d’Obama suffira-telle à donner l’avantage aux démocrates ?
When Chance the Rapper appeared last November on Saturday Night Live and sang a tune titled “Come Back, Barack,” he spoke for all the bereft Democrats who believed that only Barack Obama had the requisite credentials and charisma to lead the fight against Trumpism. Now nearly a year later, their wish has come true. He has interrupted his excellent retirement to stump in the midterms for a Democratic Congress, to stoke anti–Donald Trump turnout with withering critiques of the manifestly unpopular president.
2. The irony is that Obama will be devoting much of this autumn to one of his least favorite pursuits: campaigning for down-ballot candidates. The irony of Obama wading into the 2018 congressional midterms is that, as president, he disdained the kind of grassroots party building and partisan engagement that might’ve blunted the massacres Democrats suffered in the 2010 and 2014 midterms. At the dawn of the Obama era, the majority Democrats held 257 1. Chance the Rapper pseudonyme de Chancelor Bennett, rappeur américain (né en 1993) / Saturday Night Live émission de divertissement hebdomadaire américaine / tune chanson / bereft (fig.) en deuil / requisite requis, nécessaire / credentials qualifications, profil / to come, came, come true se réaliser / retirement retraite / to stump ici, faire campagne / midterms élections de mi-mandat / to stoke attiser / turnout participation (électorale) / withering cinglant. 2. to devote consacrer / pursuit occupation, activité / down-ballot candidate pers. qui brigue un mandat local, des fonctions moins en vue (et dont le nom apparaît en bas du bulletin de vote, ballot) / to wade into ici, intervenir dans / to disdain dédaigner / grassroots ici, local / to blunt ici, atténuer / dawn aube / era ère, période / House seats; during his final two years, the minority Democrats held 188 seats. When he was first sworn into office, Democrats enjoyed a near-filibuster-proof Senate majority; when his time ran out, their Senate seats had dwindled to 44.
3. Democratic strategists are pleased that Obama is currently teaming up with his ex– attorney general Eric Holder to target state legislative races, trying to recoup what has been lost, but there’s also a widespread feeling that the expresident’s efforts are a tad late.
PAINFUL PAST
4. Obama has acknowledged that he allowed the party to wither; shortly before Trump was inaugurated, he told ABC News: “I take some responsibility on that. I couldn’t be both chief organizer of the Democratic Party and function as commander in chief of the United States.”
5. Democrats are determined to look forward— indeed, the prospects for a blue wave are bullish, especially with Obama campaigning
House = House of Representatives / to be sworn into office prêter serment / near-filibuster-proof pratiquement à l'abri d'une éventuelle obstruction parlementaire / to run, ran, run out toucher à sa fin / to dwindle diminuer. 3. currently actuellement / to team up with faire équipe avec / attorney general (US) équivalent du ministre de la Justice / race ici, élection / to recoup récupérer / widespread largement répandu / a tad un peu. 4. painful douloureux / to acknowledge admettre / to wither s'étioler / to inaugurate investir (dans ses fonctions). 5. to look forward se tourner vers l'avenir / prospect perspective / blue wave (fig.) vague démocrate / bullish ici, au beau fixe / against Republicans in the 23 House districts where Hillary Clinton won the 2016 presidential vote—but the recent past is too painful to ignore. Steve Rosenthal, a veteran Democratic organizer and a former political director of the AFL-CIO, tells me: “We’ll be digging out of it for some time to come. Too frequently, President Obama tried to stay above the fray, and that didn’t help.”
6. Granted, he says, most presidents don’t spend much energy building the party that helped elect them: “Maybe with the exception of George W. Bush during his first term [the 2002 midterms that followed 9/11], I don’t think there’s been a president in either party in recent memory [who] invested properly. They have generally viewed the parties as wholly owned subsidiaries of their personal brand for reelection purposes.”
House district circonscription (élisant un représentant à la Chambre des représentants) / veteran chevronné, expérimenté / AFL-CIO = American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations principal regroupement syndical des É.-U. / We’ll be digging out of it for some time to come Il nous faudra encore du temps pour nous en remettre / to stay above the fray se tenir au-dessus de la mêlée. 6. granted certes / term mandat / properly vraiment / to view ici, considérer / wholly owned contrôlé à 100 % / subsidiary filiale / brand marque / for... purposes à des fins de ....
NO BASIC POLITICAL TASKS
7. But, privately, a number of Democratic strategists are still grumbling about the basic political tasks that Obama refused to perform. The fate of down-ballot Democrats never greatly concerned him; many in the party attribute that to his “solitary” nature,” and his “brand” as an outsider indifferent to the ways of Washington. Once in office, he rarely forged ties to Democrats on Capitol Hill. He spent most of the 2014 autumn-midterm sprint on the golf course—not just because he preferred to be aloof from the fray, but because his approval rating hovered at 43 percent.
8. As one strategist tells me, there is “a generation of campaign operatives who came out of the Obama experience and thought they had developed the ‘secret sauce,’ ignoring the fact that they had a [uniquely] gifted and charismatic candidate.” That jibes with what Congressman Scott Peters of California told The New York Times last year, when he argued that everyone should share the blame: “We got a bit lazy and found ourselves relying on Barack Obama’s charisma, and it left us in bad shape.”
7. to grumble (about) se plaindre (de) / fate sort / outsider ici, observateur extérieur / ways moeurs / in office au pouvoir / to forge ties to tisser des liens avec / Capitol Hill (siège du) Congrès / to be aloof from garder ses distances avec / approval rating cote de popularité / to hover at tourner autour de. 8. operative responsable / gifted doué, talentueux / to jibe with concorder avec / to argue affirmer, soutenir / to share the blame assumer sa part de responsabilité / lazy paresseux / to rely on dépendre de / in bad shape en piteux état.
THE MOST POPULAR DEMOCRAT LEADER
9. But while these memories are still fresh for those who work on the inside, and while there are new complaints that his post-presidential foundation is competing with the party for donations, most Democrats are anxious to move on. Obama now has a golden opportunity to make amends for his flaws, and besides, the average persuadable voter has no interest in the party’s intramural complaints.
10. Lindenfeld tells me: “His voice today seems to be both powerful and comparatively appealing not just to Democrats, but most importantly to independents”—only 31 percent of whom now support Trump, down from 47 percent last month—“and to those who voted for Trump and now have buyer’s remorse. Regardless of what anyone says, and I may have my criticisms … our party has no leaders who
9. memory souvenir / complaint plainte, critique / to compete with concurrencer / donation don / anxious impatient / to move on passer à autre chose / to make amends for sth se faire pardonner qqch / flaw défaut / average ordinaire, lambda / intramural ici, interne. 10. comparatively relativement / appealing attractif / buyer’s remorse ici, remords d'électeur / regardless indépendamment de / are more popular and capable and compelling than Obama. I would dismiss the bellyaching and appreciate the value.”
11. Obama won’t be welcome everywhere, of course—he won’t set foot in states like Trumpfriendly West Virginia, where he’d likely hinder the Democrat Joe Manchin’s bid for a new Senate term—but the map is studded with opportunities for Obama to help turn the House blue, not just in the Republican districts that Hillary Clinton won, but in normally Republican suburban enclaves where white collegeeducated women detest Trump.
12. Midterms are typically a referendum on the current president, and Trump’s moment of reckoning seems close at hand. The timing is propitious for Obama to stump with the wind at his back, and for Democrats to showcase his strengths and let bygones be bygones.
compelling convaincant / to dismiss ici, oublier, écarter / bellyaching récriminations. 11. to set, set, set foot ici, se rendre (dans) / to hinder gêner, entraver / bid candidature / map carte (électorale) / to be studded with regorger de / college-educated ayant suivi des études supérieures. 12. reckoning jugement, règlement de comptes / to be close at hand être proche / timing ici, calendrier / to showcase mettre en valeur / let bygones be bygones faire table rase du passé.