ON THE BRINK. Obama Breaks Silence: 'You Are Right to Be Concerned'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Daily Beast



Former President Barack Obama has made his first public comments in months, telling Democratic Party donors they are “right to be concerned” about the state of America. While Obama stuck to his rule of not mentioning President Trump by name, his comments at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in California on Thursday made his thoughts very clear. “Fear is powerful,” Obama said. “Telling people that somebody’s 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.” Obama didn’t specifically discuss immigrant children being separated from their families, or the rulings from the Supreme Court this week. But he urged Democrats to focus on the November elections and to stop pining for a new political savior, Politico reported from the closed event. “Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t 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 is reported to have said. “If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.”

READ IT AT POLITICO

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/obama-breaks-silence-you-are-right-to-be-concerned?ref=home

[Snellius]

1. Obligated to vote. And to speak out.

Beyond preaching to the choir in Beverly Hills. Please, Mr. President, screw the polite tradition of ex-pres decorum. We need your voice. Now. More than ever. Not only your legacy is at stake but the whole heritage of American democracy.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. +1000000!

[Tarheel_Dem]

10. Disagree. The country is already bitterly divided, and Trump would like nothing better than to...

spar with Pres. Obama as it enhances his standing among his followers. I want PBO to stay under the radar as his predecessor did. We have "elected" leaders who should take up the fight now. This is a time for new leadership to emerge.

[Snellius]

11. He stayed "under the radar" in 2016 and how did that go?

To give voice to universal values and principles of what Democrats stand for does not mean he needs to spar with Trump. He's too smart for that. Even in this talk he never mentions Trump's name. He has no need to enhance his standing among his followers. The only objection one hears is that his presence will only enflame the bigots on the right. which IMHO is like fighting by hiding from an enemy for fear they might shoot back.

This time is different. There's talk of civil war. It is more than an election. It is more than political. More than D vs R. It is a battle for the ideological heart of what American democracy stands for. And no one out there right now can speak for those ideals better, with more intelligence and eloquence than O.

As it is, he is expected to hit the campaign trail at some point (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/27/obama-expected-to-hit-the-campaign-trail-in-september.html).

When the ship of state is so close to sinking, all hands on deck.

[Tarheel_Dem]

12. As much as I love PBO, we have to admit that he is a lightning rod for the right. I'll go as far...

as to admit that the backlash to his presidency contributed to the situation we're now dealing with. Many white folks bought into the fear of people of color lining up at the border to take their jobs. They bought into the notion that not being able to call black people the "n" word, or a gay man the "f" word, or a woman the "c" word was way too politically correct. There are other democratic POTUS' who are now considered statesmen who can speak out. Obama's presidency is still too fresh in the minds of the virulent rightwing attack machine.

Preaching to the choir is not what's needed now. Political theater is not what's needed now. Everyone who agrees with Obama, of which I am one, already votes Dem. In case you hadn't noticed, PBO is a "former" POTUS. He has no legislative power. Please, for the sake of our future, look to emerging leadership for change.

[RandiFan1290]

2. Democrats need to fight for us as well

Without asking Mitch McConnell for permission.

[Cha]

16. They are since you haven't noticed.

[Sunlei]

3. "If we don't vote, then this democracy doesn't work." Obama 6/29/18

“If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.” Obama 6/29/18

“If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.” Obama 6/29/18


“If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.” Obama 6/29/18

...free from many Secret Service-imposed restrictions that did not allow him to partake in activities he loved. This is what President Obama did the first week he was Free.

[EndGOPPropaganda]

4. Did he mention right wing media?

Because this

Fear is powerful,” Obama said. “Telling people that 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.”

is what the right wing propaganda media - Fox Limbaugh’ Breitbart WSJ Ed page etc. - has been doing since LONG BEFORE Trump.

[NewJeffCT]

7. Even going back to Father Coughlin

back in the 1930s - he started with an appeal to the working class, but then moved on to attacking Jewish bankers, supporting Hitler & Mussolini

[olegramps]

9. Coughlin has the distinction of being the first major radio demagogue.

His message of hatred captivated the public and he had millions of faithful followers during the 1930 until he was finally silenced by his bishop with the outbreak of WWII. Today's demagogues are faithfully following in his footsteps spreading a message of division and demonetization of anyone who dares question their propaganda. Just as today, he condescended to outright lies and character assassination as he came under increasing challenge and his audience began to abandon him.

[EndGOPPropaganda]

19. Father Coughlin

And complicit Walter Winchell

both have analogies today.

The difference today was that it is far easier for foreign powers and anti-American Republicans to manipulate public opinion through social media.

[joshdawg]

6. Don't boo, vote."

Every time trump's ass face is on the TV, I want to throw a rock at it.
I mute the TV when he speaks; I cannot stand to listen to his childish way of speaking, his condescending and patronizing manner of speech, his adolescent attitude when he speaks at a rally or any other public forum.
I will boo, hoist the single-digit salute(with both hands), throw a few choice expletives toward the shitgibbon, BUT I will also vote!

[Uncle Joe]

8. Fear trumps logic, logic trumps faith and faith trumps fear, those are primordial intincts

ingrained in our DNA, along the lines of rock being faith, scissors being fear and paper as logic.

The Republican Party's messaging dominates on two of the three easily ceding logic knowing they still have the advantage.

It's not that they're truly faithful but cynically use that dynamic to promote fear with their followers instead of quelling it.

(snip)

“Fear is powerful,” Obama said. “Telling people that somebody’s 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.”

(snip)

“All these people that are out here kvetching and wringing their hands and stressed and anxious and constantly watching cable TV and howling at the moon, ‘What are we going to do?,’ their hair’s falling out, they can’t sleep,” Obama said. “The majority of the American people prefer a story of hope. A majority of the American people prefer a country that comes together rather than being divided. The majority of the country doesn’t want to see a dog-eat-dog world where everybody is angry all the time.”

Obama mocked Trump and others for being among the angry: “They’re mad even when they win.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/barack-obama-advice-to-democrats-685940

Thanks for the thread DonViejo

[RandomAccess]

13. Tepid

I know people don't like what they perceive as criticism of Obama (and a bunch of other people), but this is what I might have expected as comments re midterms during GWBush's administration. These times, IMO, require much, much more.

[Cha]

17. Yeah, I knew somebody would be complaining about President Obama

"If we don't vote, then this democracy doesn't work." Obama 6/29/18

I'm grateful for him and that he will be out on the campaign trail for the 2018 Midterm Elections.

[RandomAccess]

20. I'm grateful for him too, and that he'll be campaigning

But all that and more can be true while I simultaneously think such a level of Presidential decorum can be taken too far when we're under this severity of threat.

There are a lot of things I ADORE about him. But there are a lot of things I'm very unhappy with him about. This is the least of them, probably, but it comes at a critically important time.

[treestar]

14. Stop pining for a new political savior!

“Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t 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 is reported to have said. “If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.”

THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT!!

[Tarheel_Dem]

15. What an excellent quote. Obama is not now, nor was he ever..."The Magic Negro". I don't understand

why people, many of whom never had a good word to say about him, keep looking backward. PBO's time came & went. He can be of tremendous help to us, but it can't be in a full on confrontation with DJT, that's someone else's job now. Getting into a fight with DJT may satisfy the base, but what good is preaching to the choir at this point? What can Obama say now, that he didn't warn us about in 2016? He did his job.

[RussBLib]

18. more please

would be nice to have some inspiration now and then!