Former President Barack Obama is pulling out all the stops in an effort to get voters to the polls this November. Obama is giving impassioned speeches like the one in Cleveland on Thursday night. He is lashing out at his successor, President Trump, and the GOP leadership, calling them out of touch and indifferent to the plights of Americans.
“On November 6 we have a chance to restore some sanity to our politics,” Obama said speaking at a rally for Ohio gubernatorial candidate Richard Corday and other Democrats. “We can tip the balance of power back to the American people. Because you are the only check on bad policy. You’re the only real check on abuses of power, it’s you and your vote. And that is why I’m here.”
“I need you to come through. But more importantly, the country needs you to come through,” the former president continued.
Obama has remained relatively silent since the election of Trump to the presidency. But he has recently re-engaged on the campaign trail as a prominent voice for the Democratic Party. He has now endorsed more than 80 Democrats across the country. Last week he was giving speeches in Illinois and California. He criticized Trump as a demagogue who was “capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years.”
Obama also lashed out at Republican efforts to roll back access to health care and severely restrict migration at the southern border, which resulted in a “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
“I don’t know what happened to our culture. … I don’t know when we began to celebrate bullies instead of looking out for people who care for other people,” Obama said. “When did that happen?”
He said people of both parties “should be concerned with our current course, should be concerned about the basic institutions of our democracy, should want to see a restoration of honesty and decency and lawfulness to our government.”
Obama is expected to campaign regularly through the Nov. 6 elections.
Trump quickly responded to one of Obama’s speeches last week, saying: “I’m sorry, I watched it, but I fell asleep. I found he’s very good, very good for sleeping.”
Obama told his audience Thursday he was encouraged by the intensity and involvement he sees among people energized to oppose Trump.
“I’m hopeful because out of this political darkness I am seeing a great awakening,” he said. “The antidote to government by just a powerful few is government by the organized, by the many, by communities that get fired up and are ready to go. … One election won’t fix everything that needs to be fixed, but it will be a good start, we’ve got to start now.”
“The biggest threat to our democracy is indifference. …Let’s get out there, let’s get to work, let’s make things better,” he continued.
“Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes.”
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