Obama’s Fiery Speech Divides Twitter Between Conservatives (He’s ‘Lecturing Us’) and Liberals (This is ‘Leadership’)

By Caleb EcarmaSep 7th, 2018, 1:58 pm
 

Former President Barack Obama attacked President Donald Trump and Republicans in a spirited speech at the University of Illinois, as well as encouraged a full auditorium to vote in the upcoming November midterms.

“When there’s a vacuum in our democracy, when we don’t vote, when we take our basic rights and freedoms for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing,” Obama said. “The politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold.”

Obama’s remarks at the college are the beginning of his efforts to assist the Democratic Party’s efforts to flip the House and start a “blue wave.”

“Demagogues promise simple fixes to complex problems,” Obama continued, presumably knocking Trump. “No promise to fight for the little guy even as they cater to the wealthiest and most powerful.”

He continued:

“What happened to the Republican Party? Its central organizing principle in foreign policy was the fight against Communism, and now they’re cozying up to the former head of the KGB.”

Obama also appeared to reference Trump’s response to last year’s Charlottesville “Unite the Right” racist sally, saying, “We’re supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers. How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?”

Pundits and other notable media figures praised Obama’s speech, citing it as a return to true American leadership, while conservatives and Republicans claimed that more Obama speeches will result in another presidential term for Trump:

[image via screengrab]

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Caleb Ecarma

Caleb Ecarma was a reporter at Mediaite. Email him here: caleb@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter here: @calebecarma