Making Daily Headlines · Page 7
Obama urges voters to rein in the administration
· New York time
Former President Barack Obama criticized President Trump while campaigning for Democrats ahead of the midterms. He called the election the country's last best chance to at least rein in some of what he described as the administration's foolishness. The appearance brings a former president into the effort to constrain a sitting one through elections. It also places the administration's conduct at the center of the Democratic appeal, rather than treating each contest as an entirely separate local argument. Whether that appeal changes votes remains a question the speech itself cannot answer. Former presidents occupy a distinctive campaign role: famous enough to command attention, removed enough from office to arrive without a current government agenda attached. They can deliver urgency with the production values of a reunion tour, except the merchandise is an instruction to vote. Obama's language presents the election as an opportunity for restraint on the White House. That is a clear political argument, not a neutral description of every voter's priorities. The campaign challenge is translating a national critique into participation in individual races. Applause is available immediately; ballots require a separate transaction, and democracy remains stubbornly unwilling to accept the first as a substitute for the second.
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