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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBarack Obama Wants Democrats to Stop Waiting Around for Inspiration
Barack Obama hasnt made many public appearances in the 17 months since he left office. However, Democrats are likely to see plenty of their party's most prominent figurehead in the coming months as he hits the campaign trail before November's midterm elections. Though he's not expected to make many appearances before September, the former president was in Los Angeles on Thursday to attend the first of three California fundraisers at which he will speak this week.
According to Politico, Obama for the most part opted to take a big-picture approach to the struggles Democrats are facing in the age of Trump, rather than addressing specific issues like family separations at the border or the upcoming retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced on Wednesday that he will step down from the post he's held since 1988 at the end of July, clearing the path for the court to potentially overturn Roe vs. Wade.
"Do not wait for the perfect message, dont wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you're expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, 'OK, I'll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote,'" Obama told donors in Beverly Hills. "Because thats part of what happened in the last election. I heard that too much."
Though Obama did not address Trump directly, several of his comments were directed at the president and his fellow Republicans. "Fear is powerful," Obama said. "Telling people that somebodys out to get you, or somebody took your job, or somebody has it out for you, or is going to change you, or your community, or your way of life that's an old story and it has shown itself to be powerful in societies all around the world. It is a deliberate, systematic effort to tap into that part of our brain that carries fear in it."
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obama-midterms-2018-w522214?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=062918_16
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)There is much work that needs to be done for the vulnerable. Trump and his followers are trashing everything, and yes, some of those being hurt are among them. We are better than this.
Cha
(298,139 posts)qazplm135
(7,447 posts)stop worrying about purity and inspiration and start worrying about power.