Be vigilant
Former Prez cites dangers of ‘strongman politics’
Former President Barack Obama denounced “strongman politics” during a speech Tuesday in South Africa honoring Nelson Mandela — one of many not-so-subtle jabs at his successor. ’‘
Obama did not mention President Trump by name, but he spoke in defense of morality and offered a rebuke of xenophobia.
“Given the strange and uncertain times that we are in — and they are strange — and they are uncertain,” Obama said, “with each day’s news cycles bringing more head-spinning and disturbing headlines, I thought maybe it would be useful to step back for a moment and try to get some perspective.”
The lecture, titled “Renewing the Mandela legacy and promoting active citizenship in a changing world,” highlighted humanity’s advancements and setbacks involving human rights.
“It is a plain fact that racial discrimination still exists in both the United States and South Africa,” Obama acknowledged.
He said “strongman politics are ascendant suddenly,” regardless of the steps societies have taken toward equality. “But those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.”
Obama said that countries that give in to xenophobia “eventually … find themselves consumed by civil war,” and politicians who push “politics of fear, resentment, retrenchment” are gaining ground “at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
Without directly addressing his successor in the White House, the 44th President countered many of President Trump’s policies, invoking the ideals Mandela incorporated into his four years as president of South Africa, such as diversity and inclusion.
Obama took aim at unnamed politicians in power today who “just make stuff up” and the “utter loss of shame among political leaders when they’re caught in a lie and they just double down and lie some more.”
He took a shot at the Trump administration’s policy of taking immigrant kids away from their parents at the southern border, saying it “makes me think that you’re a little insecure about your heritage if you have to put somebody else’s heritage putting propping “People down.” others themselves who are down intent up and are on small-hearted,” he continued. “There’s something they’re just afraid of.”
He acknowledged societies who hope newcomers make an effort to adapt to the “language and customs of their new home” are legiti- mate wants but those hopes can’t “be an excuse for immi- gration policies based on race or ethnicity or religion.”
The Nobel Prize-winner spoke just one day after Presi- dent Trump had a dual press conference alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the televised event, Trump denied the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election and in- stead sided with Putin, saying he doesn’t “see any reason why” Russia would be responsible. “Just by standing on the stage honoring Nelson Mandela, Obama is delivering an eloquent rebuke to Trump,” John Stremlau, professor of international relations at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, told the Associated Press. In his speech covering the past 100 years of human history, Obama touched on how the former Soviet Union was “humiliated by its collapse” but then eventually “started reasserting authoritarian control and in some cases, started meddling with its neighbors.” “(There’s) nothing worse than foreign meddling,” Obama said.