In recent days, a growing number of elected Democrats have been detained, and in some cases manhandled, by federal agents; a Democratic governor was threatened with arrest by Trump and with being “tarred and feathered” by the House speaker; and a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband were assassinated.
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Instead, Obama encouraged others – particularly those at law firms, universities and businesses – to speak out against the demands of the Trump administration. Obama recognises that he is unlikely to sway Republicans or Trump himself with any public critiques, so he has been focusing on issues where his words can have an effect, according to people who work with him. In April, he also called on universities and law firms to resist intimidation from the Trump administration.
On Wednesday, he offered a particularly stinging critique of affluent liberals before the audience in Connecticut, a wealthy Democratic state.
During his presidency, liberals felt “comfortable in their righteousness,” he said, because it wasn’t tested.
“You could be as progressive and socially conscious as you wanted and you did not have to pay a price,” he said. “You could still make a lot of money. You could still hang out in Aspen and Milan and travel and have a house in the Hamptons and still think of yourself as a progressive.” He added, “We now have a situation in which all of us are going to be tested in some way and we are going to have to decide what our commitments will be.”
Former president Barack Obama during the Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration in January this year.Credit: Bloomberg
“Now things are a little different,” he said. “You might lose some of your donors if you’re a university, and if you’re a law firm, your billings might drop a little bit, which means you cannot remodel that kitchen in your house in the Hamptons this summer.”
His comments were unlikely to satisfy Democratic officials and voters who have grumbled about his reluctance to wade into contemporary politics, wanting him to offer more vocal and frequent criticism of the Trump administration. But he has made clear that he does not intend to become a leader of the opposition. Audio and video recordings of his remarks at the event in Connecticut were forbidden, hampering their widespread transmission.
While he opposes much of Trump’s agenda, Obama believes that offering a steady stream of criticism of the administration would dilute the power of his voice, according to people who work with him.
His remarks, which wound through the use of the internet in his early campaigns to a brief history of globalisation over the past half-century, amounted to a call to restore democracy by resuscitating core values of the past. Obama lamented the loss of common ground, trust and even basic facts. Woven into his comments was a critique of Trump and the Republican Party – though he never mentioned his successor by name.
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“In 2020, one person won the election and it wasn’t the guy complaining about it,” he said. “That’s just a fact. Just like my inauguration had more people.” He added, “I don’t care, but facts are important.”
Obama added: “One of the most pernicious things that has happened is we have a situation now where we’re not just arguing policy or values or opinions, but basic facts are being contested, and that is a problem.”
Behind the scenes, Obama maintains an open door to Democratic elected officials. He frequently offers advice to congressional leaders, governors, members of Congress and potential candidates who contact him for advice. Next month, he will headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at the home of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, according to three people briefed on the plans.
At a time when his party’s approval ratings are at historical lows, Obama remains the most popular living Democrat. Before his appearance, attendees posed before a backdrop with signs reading “Yes we still can” and “Hartford still has hope”.
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In private discussions, Obama has praised his party’s bench of leaders in statehouses and in Congress, saying a new generation must lead Democrats into the future.
He has compared this moment to early 2005, when he arrived in the Senate with Democrats out of power in Washington, according to a person briefed on the conversations. In the 2006 midterm elections, Democrats gained control of Congress. And two years after that, he became the country’s first Black president and re-energised the party.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
