Former President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail in California on Saturday, where he struck an optimistic note for Democratic Party activists ahead of November’s midterms — a day after a speech in which he ripped into President Trump.
“In two months we have a chance to restore some sanity in our politics,” he told the cheering crowd.
Obama introduced congressional candidates at the event, held in Orange County — a Republican stronghold in the blue state — and told activists that there was a choice “between those who promote politics of hope and those who exploit politics of fear.”
“During these times of uncertainty, it’s always tempting for politicians for their own gain and for people in power to try and see if they can divide people, scapegoat folks, turn them on each other,” he said.
He also urged activists to push back against lobbyists and special interests: “This is a government for everybody, it’s not for sale, that’s what we believe in.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]The former president was clearly criticizing Trump for his attacks on the media, but the comments were immediately undermined by those who remembered Obama’s own less vocal, but more legal, attacks.
“Did substantially increase leak prosecutions, however,” Maggie Haberman of the New York Times objected.
“Leak prosecutions were a big deal under Obama. It wasn’t a frontal attack, but it was a stealth one,” she added in a response to someone defending Obama.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins responded with a quote from the New York Times summing up Obama’s actions against the freedom of the press.
“Under Obama, the DOJ and FBI spied on reporters by monitoring phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to others to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify,” the excerpt read.
Former President Obama: “I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down, or call them ‘enemies of the people.’” pic.twitter.com/8zvwngP9L2
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 7, 2018
Other critics were less moderate, like former governor Mike Huckabee, who retorted, “You wiretapped the AP and reporter @JamesRosenTV and even his parents! The IRS persecuted multiple conservative groups as did DOJ. You may not remember, but we do.”- READ MORE
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