The day after the midterm elections, former President Barack Obama preached a message of unity and urged Americans to keep working to “return to the values we expect in our daily life.”
“Our work goes on,” Obama said in a statement. “The change we need won’t come from one election alone – but it is a start. Last night, voters across the country started it. And I’m hopeful that going forward, we’ll begin a return to the values we expect in our public life – honesty, decency, compromise, and standing up for one another as Americans, not separated by our differences, but bound together by one common creed.”
Read the whole statement here:
I congratulate everybody who showed up and participated in our democracy yesterday. Obviously, the Democrats’ success in flipping the House of Representatives, several governorships, and state legislatures will get the most attention. But even more important than what we won is how we won: by competing in places we haven’t been competitive in a long time, and by electing record numbers of women and young veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, a surge of minority candidates, and a host of outstanding young leaders. The more Americans who vote, the more our elected leaders look like America.
On a personal note, Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder of the alumni of my administration who took the baton and won their races last night. Even the young candidates across the country who fell short have infused new energy and new blood into our democratic process, and America will be better off for it for a long time to come.
I also want to congratulate voters across the country for turning out in record numbers, and for voting for several ballot initiatives that will improve the lives of the American people – like raising the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, and strengthening voting rights.
Our work goes on. The change we need won’t come from one election alone – but it is a start. Last night, voters across the country started it. And I’m hopeful that going forward, we’ll begin a return to the values we expect in our public life – honesty, decency, compromise, and standing up for one another as Americans, not separated by our differences, but bound together by one common creed.
Obama unites, Trump divides. Obama is Presidential, Trump is unPresidential.
It sounds nice, but Trump will just continue inciting his base to violence. His question, where are the “Trump bikers” to deal with “Antifa” at a recent rally was as clear an incitement to violence by a pol. as I have ever heard. It sounded like some of the dialogue in Mississippi Burning and it comes from the President of the United States!
There is no “hopey changie” with this fascist pig. Sounds to me like Obama is making the same mistake he did while in office: assume we are dealing with people of good will. We’re not.
Skimming, I didn’t see anything in this statement to suggest he thinks that. The only thing you can conclude is that there are people in public who don’t value “honesty, decency, compromise, and standing up for one another as Americans,” and that Obama thinks we should vote them out. I don’t think anyone as insightful or politically savvy as Obama thinks the current crop of Republicans will be nice if we hope it hard enough.
I don’t know about everyone else…but I needed to hear this. There is a part of me that was getting depressed last night. This is the message we must believe and run with…must instill in those young first time voters.
This was never going to be a sprint. The right has been constructing this shit over decades. The irony is…they are masters of playing the long game in politics…but everywhere else they are short-sighted and history will deride them. The environment…healthcare…economics. It’s all what’s in it for me in the next few months.
He’s also “unpresidented.” (as trump himself would point out.)