In his first public remarks since last month’s election, former President Barack Obama largely avoided directly mentioning Donald Trump’s presidential victory and instead focused on the need to connect and accommodate an audience whose Deep divisions have been sown during the Trump era. .
“You see, it’s easy to pay lip service to democracy when it produces the results we want. “It’s when we don’t get what we want that our commitment to democracy is tested,” Obama said in his keynote address to the Obama Foundation’s third annual Democracy Forum. at a South Loop hotel.
“And at this moment in history, when fundamental democratic principles seem to be continually under attack, when too many people around the world have become cynical and disengaged, it is precisely the time to ask ourselves difficult questions about how we We can build our democracies and make them work in ways that are meaningful and practical for ordinary people,” he said.
During his speech, Obama did not mention Trump by name, his Republican successor in the 2016 election who took back the White House by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris on November 5. And Obama’s speech was a far cry from the partisan attacks he launched against Trump. at the Democratic National Convention, the last time Obama was in Chicago for a public address.
At the August convention, Obama ridiculed Trump and warned that his return to the White House would lead to “four more years of bluster, bungling and chaos.”
But on Thursday, it was Obama, the speaker, who spoke, echoing the forum’s theme of “pluralism” and calling on people to engage with others from different viewpoints and backgrounds. different horizons in order to contribute to the maintenance of democracy.
During his speech, Obama acknowledged that in introducing his friends to the forum’s planned topic, he “got more than a few groans and eye rolls” since “for them, the election proved that democracy is enough far among people’s priorities. »
“But as a citizen and a member of a foundation that believes deeply in the promise of democracy – not only to recognize the dignity and worth of every individual, but also to produce free, fair and more just societies – I cannot imagine a better time to talk about it,” he said.
“This idea that each of us must demonstrate a certain level of tolerance toward those who don’t look like us, think or pray like us, is at the heart of democracy,” he said. . “But it’s especially difficult in large multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious countries like the United States.”
Obama noted that in America in the decades after World War II, “democracy seemed to function relatively well, with frequent cooperation between parties and what looked like broad consensus on how interests were shared.” (and) disputes had to be settled.”
“Perhaps the main reason American pluralism seems to work so well has to do with what has been left out,” he said, noting that even in 2004, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate , he was the only black member. “It’s fair to say that when everyone in Washington looked the same and shared the same experiences…making deals and getting along was a lot easier.”
But beginning with the rise of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, “historically marginalized blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, women, gays and lesbians, and disabled Americans demanded a seat at the table.” , Obama said. “Not only did they insist on a fair share of direct government resources, but they also brought with them new problems, beyond their unique experiences, that could not be solved simply by giving them a larger share of the cake. »
“In other words,” he said, “politics is no longer just a fight over tax rates or roads. These were more fundamental questions that touched on the core of our being: how we expected society to be structured.
These issues, however, have also opened the door to “politicians, party leaders and interest groups (who) take a maximalist stance on almost every issue,” Obama said.
“Each election becomes an act of mortal combat, whose political opponents are enemies to be defeated. Compromise is considered betrayal and total victory is the only acceptable outcome,” he said. “But because total victory is impossible in a politically divided country, the result is a fatal loop: gridlock, greater polarization, wilder rhetoric, and a deeper conviction among supporters that the other side is breaking the rules and rigged the game to tilt it in their favor.
Obama, a former lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago, has spoken often since his presidency about the need to restore civility and achieve compromise despite the country’s political divisions.
His comments Thursday took on added dimension in the post-election climate, given the history of Trump’s first term and the promises the president-elect made throughout the campaign.
“I am convinced that if we want democracy, as we understand it, to survive, we will all have to work towards a renewed commitment to pluralist principles,” he said, adding that “it is important to seek allies in the world. unlikely places,” and not “assume that people on the other side have monolithic views” and believe that they “may share our beliefs about respecting rules and norms.”
The alternative is “an increasing willingness on the part of politicians and their supporters to violate democratic norms, to do whatever they can to get what they want, to use state power to target critics, journalists and political rivals and even resort to violence in order to gain and maintain power,” he said.
“In these circumstances, pluralism does not require us to simply step back and save our breath,” Obama said. “In these circumstances, a line has been crossed and we must stand firm, speak out, organize and mobilize as forcefully as possible. »
But, emphasizing that such change cannot happen quickly, he also called restoring the “habits and practices we have so often lost, by learning to trust each other” is “a generational project.” .
