Obama forcefully rebukes ‘strongman politics’
He decries latest anti-immigration moves in U.S., Europe
Without mentioning President Donald Trump by name, former President Barack Obama delivered a pointed rebuke of “strongman politics” on Tuesday, warning about growing nationalism, xenophobia and bigotry in the United States and around the world, while offering a full-throated defense of democracy, diversity and the liberal international order.
A day after Trump met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Obama delivered his highest-profile speech since leaving office, at an event in South Africa marking the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth.
“Look around,” he said. “Strongman politics are ascendant suddenly, whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained, the form of it, but those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.”
Obama opened his nearly 90-minute speech with a nod to current events, saying that times were “strange and uncertain” and that “each day’s news cycle is bringing more head-spinning and disturbing headlines.” He said that leaders embracing the “politics of fear, resentment and retrenchment” were undermining the international system established after World War II.
“That kind of politics is now on the move,” Obama told a crowd of thousands at a stadium in Johannesburg. “It’s on a move at a pace that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. I’m not being alarmist; I’m simply stating the facts.”
Just the day before, Trump had stood next to Putin in Helsinki, Finland, and disputed his own intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Moscow, at the behest of Putin, interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Trump said he believed Putin’s denial, drawing widespread condemnation, even from some members of his own party.
Obama seemed to take direct aim at Trump over his administration’s policies and his propensity for exaggerations and falsehoods. He said he was stunned how the notion of objective truth was now up for debate and how politicians make up facts and stand by baseless claims even after they are proved wrong.
“We see the utter loss of shame among political leaders, where they’re caught in a lie and they just double down and lie some more,” he said. “Look, let me say: Politicians have always lied, but it used to be that if you caught them lying, they’d be like, ‘Ah, man.’”
He also addressed growing anti-immigration policies in the United States and Europe. In the United States, Trump ordered a ban on travel to the country from several predominantly Muslim countries. His administration also enforced the former policy of separating immigrant children from parents who cross illegally into the United States.
While it is “not wrong” to want to protect the country’s borders or expect that immigrants assimilate, Obama said, it “cannot be an excuse for immigration policies based on race or ethnicity or religion.”
“We can enforce the law while respecting the essential humanity of those who are striving for a better life,” he said. “For a mother with a child in her arms, we can recognize that could be somebody in our family, that could be my child.”
Throughout the speech, Obama returned to the ideals promoted by Mandela, the antiapartheid leader. Those ideals are now at risk, he said.
“On Madiba’s 100th birthday, we now stand at a crossroads,” Obama said, using Mandela’s clan name. “A moment in time in which two very different visions of humanity’s future compete for the hearts and minds of citizens around the world. Two different stories, two different narratives, about who we are and who we should be.”