There is a tradition in American politics that former presidents do not criticize the sitting president. There are some good reasons for this tradition, but for all of the tsk-tsking of the chattering classes, it’s a tradition that has been broken a lot in the past. With every other norm of US politics being shattered, it’s time to finally end this one for good.
Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, Barack Obama has remained relatively restrained. He did make a speech in the heat of the 2018 election campaign that was directly critical of the president. But for the most part, he makes comments in the margins, or supports the critical words of others. Just now, he praised a letter written by former members of his administration. With all due respect, that is not enough.
The Democratic party doesn’t have a leader right now. President Trump is able to pick battles with people who have nowhere near the reach that he has. While he doesn’t always win these battles, he starts with a huge media advantage.
There is nobody in the Democratic party with the gravitas, the eloquence, or the speaking ability that Barack Obama has. It’s not even close. His speech, “A More Perfect Union”, in the wake of the Jeremiah Wright scandal was one of the greatest speeches in American political history.
We need another speech like that right now. Donald Trump has made a calculation that his racist speech is helping him. I’m honestly having a hard time even processing that. He’s thrown away the dog whistle and is now openly using racism to try to score political points. What truly puts a pit in my stomach is one wrenching, horrible thought — what if it works? Donald Trump upsets me on an almost daily basis, but these past two weeks, he has found a whole new gear.
President Obama, we need you now. It’s time to break the emergency glass. Don’t let this become normal. Don’t let this just be one more crazy thing that Donald Trump has done. Draw a line in the sand here.
Don’t make a speech to a small university audience that gets some play on page 6 of the newspaper. Take a page from Donald Trump’s playbook. Generate a major media frenzy. Get all of the leaders of the party together on stage with you and create a media circus. Then deliver a speech that only you can deliver.