Obama raises $7.6M for Biden’s campaign
BATMAN LIVES
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Former president Barack Obama warned Democrats against being “complacent or smug” about the presidential race at a grassroots fundraiser for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila), calling on viewers to learn the lessons from 2016 and not take the election for granted.
Referencing what he called a “great awakening” going on among younger Americans pushing for reforms, Obama said “just because this energy is out there does not mean that it assures our victory and it does not mean that it gets channeled in a way that results in real changeN”
“There’s a backlash, that is fierce, against change,” he added. The former president referenced the division among Americans which he said President Donald Trump “exploits,” and new challenges to voting rights in recent yearsN
“We can’t be complacent or smug or suggest that somehow it’s so obvious that this president hasn’t done a good job, because look, he won once, and it’s not like we didn’t have a good clue as to how he was going to operate the last time,” Obama said.
He implored the audience to get engaged with Biden’s presidential campaign, declaring that “whatever you’ve done so far is not enoughN”
The fundraiser marked Obama’s official return to the presidential campaign trail and underscored his unmatched popularity within the Democratic Party.
Biden, who appeared virtually alongside Obama at the event, said it raised a record-breaking $7.6 million from more than 175,000 individual donorsN
It was a kickoff of what Obama’s team says will likely be a busy schedule heading into the fall, as he looks to help elect not just Biden, but Democrats running for
House and SenateN
And his comments suggest Democrats are taking very seriously the possibility that their base could grow too comfortable this fall, with a number of state and nationwide surveys showing Biden with significant, often double-digit leads over Trump.
Obama sometimes struggled to lift other Democratic candidates while he was in the White House, notably losing control of the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. But in the era of Trump, Democrats believe Obama’s appeal, especially among Black and younger voters, can help boost energy for BidenN