Published 15:13 IST, October 23rd 2018
''Republicans Pit One Group Against Another'' Says Barack Obama
Campaigning for Democratic party candidates, former US president Barack Obama has accused the ruling Republicans of pitting people against one another and not addressing the challenges being faced by the country
Campaigning for Democratic party candidates, former US president Barack Obama has accused the ruling Republicans of pitting people against one another and not addressing the challenges being faced by the country.
Two years after leaving the White House, Obama remains the biggest crowd puller for the Democratic party, which is expected to gain in this mid-term polls on November 6.
Republicans in power want you to feel cynical. They want you not to vote. Instead of addressing the challenges that exist, they exploit some of the history that we have in this country, of racial and ethnic and religious divisions, Obama said at a well-attended Democratic campaign rally in Nevada.
The former president alleged that the Republicans try to get people angry. They appeal to tribe, and they appeal to fear, and they try to pit one group against another. They tell us that order and security is going to be restored as long as we don't let 'those people' take over, the people who don't look like us or sound like us or pray like we do, the Democratic party leader said.
They start talking about 'real Americans' as if some of us aren't real Americans, Obama said.As the election approaches, the Republicans increasingly resort to such tactics. But that does not work in a healthy democracy, he said.
Because what happens is, people of good will in both parties start calling out bigots and fearmongers, and they work to compromise. They work to get things done, the practical solutions caucus starts kicking in, he said.
Urging his supporters to come out and vote for his party's candidates, Obama said there is vacuum in democracy when people do not go out and vote.
"There is a vacuum in democracy, when we don't vote, when we take our rights for granted, when we turn the other way to politics because we think it's ugly and messy and we don't want to hear it, that's when the voices fill in the void, other voices, and demagogues start promising simple fixes to complicated problems, and they promise to fight for the little guy, and then they turn around and are helping corporations and billionaires and the most powerful do their bidding, he said.
Obama alleged that there were states where Republicans were actively purging voter rolls, where they have tried to say that students, and college students operate under different rules than others and make it harder for them to vote.
"They'll pledge to take on corruption, and then they just plunder away, and they start undermining some of the institutions that our essential to our democracy. They make it harder for young people, and minorities and the poor to vote, and that entrenches their power further'', he said.
''I have to say that this kind of politics, it's not actually conservative; it's radical. It's a vision that says, we're going to protect our power no matter what, even if it hurts the country,'' he said.
''We're going to divide the country, and make everybody angry, even though we know that's not actually going to help create jobs, or put food on the table, or pay the rent, or make sure that health care's protected'', he said.
It's a vision where a few people who can afford those high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions, they set the agenda, and rather than be a check or a balance on this kind of corrupt politics, you've Republicans in Congress who bend over backwards to shield it from scrutiny, and accountability and consequences said the former US president.
Updated 15:14 IST, October 23rd 2018