Barack Obama has stayed relatively silent on all things politics ever since he left the White House, preferring to talk about things like why Fleabag is his favourite show. But with the 2020 U.S. election carrying so much on the line, the former president has dusted off his much-missed “leader Barack Obama” persona and endorsed his former vice-president, Joe Biden, for victory while simultaneously criticising Trump and reassuring us all that everything will be okay.
Speaking of Trump, the GOAT team talk about Combover Caligula’s poor bowels on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
In a 12-minute video, Obama kicked things off by sharing some heartfelt thoughts about the coronavirus pandemic that the U.S. has been sorely lacking in 2020.
After thanking all the medical workers doing their best during such trying times, Obama then endorsed Joe Biden for the next U.S. president with a glowing appraisal of why he’s the right man to lead the way.
Somewhat surprisingly, Obama then went on to praise Biden’s main challenger, Bernie Sanders, and all the other Democratic challengers before remarkably telling Biden that he must go further than he did back in 2008 and 2012 when it comes to policies and shaping the future of America, saying that the platform he ran as president back in 2008 would be outdated in 2020.
If anything, this felt less about Barack Obama endorsing Joe Biden for the 2020 election and more about a message of unity during these trying times.
But the juicest part of Obama’s Joe Biden endorsement video isn’t the praise he lavished on his former VP and the Democratic party. No, that would be Obama subtly-but-not-too-subtly criticising Trump and the Republican party, both of whom have been at the helm of America these past few years and are responsible for nearly every fustercluck that’s happened in the country.
While Obama doesn’t reference Trump by name, it’s pretty obvious who he is talking about when the much-loved former president says things like “I know he’ll surround himself with good people, experts, scientists, military officials, who actually know how to run the government, and actually care about running the government.”
Perhaps the hardest-hitting part of Obama’s criticism of Trump and the Republicans in power was him basically calling them out for being selfish, greedy arseholes.
“Because one thing everybody has learned by now is that the Republicans occupying the White House and running the U.S. Senate are not interested in progress. They’re interested in power. They’ve shown themselves willing to kick millions off their health insurance and eliminate preexisting condition protections for millions more, even in the middle of this public health crisis, even as they’re willing to spend a trillion dollars on tax cuts for the wealthy.
“They’ve given polluters unlimited power to poison our air and our water and denied the science of climate change just as they denied the science of pandemics. Repeatedly, they’ve disregarded American principles of rule of law and voting rights and transparency—basic norms that previous administrations observed regardless of party. Principles that are the bedrock of our democracy.”
Given all the turmoil that we’ve gone through over the last few years, especially in America with the Trump tsunami, it’s really nice to hear a respected leader like Barack Obama speaking eloquently, with empathy, and with a clear message.
At the very least, it was just comforting to hear Obama giving everyone a much-needed speech about unity and letting everyone know how we’ll emerge through these tough times stronger than before.
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