CHICAGO – Former US president Barack Obama returned to the political frayon Friday, forcefully rebuking his successor Donald Trump and theRepublican Party before hitting the campaign trail for Democrats.
Since leaving office, Obama had avoided directly criticizing Trump and madea calculated effort not to utter his successor’s name.
But that changed on Friday.
“What happened to the Republican Party?” Obama asked an auditorium packedwith college students who greeted him with a roaring standing ovation.
“They’re undermining our alliances, cozying up to Russia,” he said.
The party’s “central organizing principle in foreign policy was the fightagainst communism and now they’re cozying up to the former head of the KGB.”
The former president’s remarks in Illinois came ahead of series of campaignstops to help fellow Democrats running in the November midterm elections.
Democrats are hoping to ride an anti-Donald Trump “blue wave” to gain seatsand secure control of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber ofCongress, and are also battling for seats in the Senate.
The speech was a preview of the arguments Obama is expected to make on thecampaign trail.
– ‘Stand up to bullies’ –
Former Obama communications director Dan Pfeiffer said on CNN that Obamacan effectively reach voters in parts of the country he won in 2012, butwhich voted for Trump in 2016.
“Obama is a great messenger to get them to vote for Democrats,” Pfeiffersaid. “If I was the Republicans, I would be very nervous about this.”
In his speech, Obama criticized the divisive politics of the Trump era,decrying attacks on the freedom of the press, the justice system, andnumerous other controversies.
“It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say we don’t target certaingroups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. We areAmericans. We’re supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them,” he saidto applause.
“And we’re sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally toNazi sympathizers,” Obama said, taking aim at Trump’s failure to quicklyand directly condemn neo-Nazis who marched last year in Charlottesville,Virginia.
– Naming Trump –
In an uncharacteristic move, Obama directly named Trump, saying the currentpresident was a “symptom, not the cause” of broader ailments in thenation’s politics.
“He’s just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanningfor years,” he said.
Obama also criticized recent Republican policy moves such as the $1.5trillion in tax cuts that ballooned the nation’s budget deficit, but whichparty leaders hoped would be a winning issue during midterm campaigns.
“It’s supposed to be the party… of fiscal conservatism. Suddenly deficitsdo not matter,” Obama said.
The former president implored the young audience to vote in the upcomingelection.
Historically, midterms are lightly attended and Obama made a point ofreminding his audience that only one in five young people voted in the 2014midterm election.
“The biggest threat to our democracy is cynicism,” Obama said.
“You’ve got to do more than retweet a hashtag, you’ve got to vote.” -APP/AFP