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Obama takes aim at Trump in fiery Milwaukee speech
AP
Standing before a crowd of several thousand people in Detroit Friday night, former President Barack Obama said the biggest threat to the nation’s democracy is indifference.
But a vote on Nov. 6 can neutralize that threat, he told a crowd jammed into the gymnasium at Cbad Technical High School.
“I’m hopeful that despite all the noise, all the lies, we’re going to remember who we are, who we’re called to be. Out of this political darkness, I see a great awakening,” he said. “If you vote, things will get better, it will be a start.”
With 10 days left before the Nov. 6 election, the rally was designed to get Democrats fired up and ready to work to both help candidates up and down the ticket as well as get to the polls to cast their ballots.
In a 45-minute speech, Obama bemoaned the last two years of political rancor in Washington and across the nation and reminded the crowd of his accomplishments in office, such as bailing out the auto industry, having 20 straight months of job growth and getting health care reform pbaded, allowing millions of Americans to get health insurance. And how Republicans have tried to tear down those achievements.
He was especially frustrated that Republican members of Congress tried dozens of time to repeal the Affordable Care Act, only to get to election season and say they’re going to try and protect certain health care provisions in the act.
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“And now they’re trying to spend the final weeks of the election pretending to be Florence Nightingale,” he said.
His primary purpose, though, was to make sure that voters remembered those pronouncements when they hit the polls and elect candidates such as U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer and Democrats all the way down the ballot.
“I’m glad to see Debbie and Gretchen, but the main reason I’m here is to make sure that all of you vote in what I believe may be the most important election in our lifetime,” he said. “The consequences of sitting on the sidelines are dangerous and profound. The character of our country is on the ballot.”
The crowd responded with cheers, standing ovations and repeated cries of “We love you” and “We want you back,” to which Obama replied, “I can’t do that, baby, because I follow the Constitution.
Obama was introduced by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. He opened his speech with: “What’s up, Detroit? It is good to be in Detroit.” And he gave shout-outs to the Detroit Pistons, the Cbad Tech Technicians football team and band, and all the Democratic candidates on the ticket.
He also attacked Trump’s pledge to fight corruption.
“Well, they’ve now racked up enough indictments to field a football team,” he said. “You know, I didn’t have anyone in my administration get indicted. It’s not that hard.”
Before Obama took the stage, Whitmer spoke, imploring the crowd to vote for the Democratic ticket. She also took aim at her opponent in the governor’s race, Republican Bill Schuette, joking that he frequently confused her with former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The reference was to Schuette frequently saying electing Whitmer would usher in another period of failed policies, such as Granholm’s.
“You know what he looks like? He looks like someone who is about to be retired,” Whitmer said to the cheers of the crowd.
Stabenow also spoke, applauding Obama for eight year of job growth and for recognizing that “our diversity is our strength.”
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44th President of the United States Barack Obama speaks during the Michigan Get Out The Vote Rally by the Michigan Democratic Party on Friday, October 26, 2018 at Cbad Tech High School in Detroit. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)
Other Democrats who spoke at the rally included Whitmer’s running mate, Garlin Gilchrist; congressional candidates Elissa Slotkin, Haley Stevens, Brenda Lawrence, Rashida Tlaib and Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones; state Supreme Court candidates Sam Bagenstos and Megan Cavanagh; Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Lawrence focused on women during her speech, saying, “We’re going to make something happen this year.”
And she had a message for those who complain there are too many women on the Democratic ticket in Michigan, saying that with their credentials and hard work, “these are the ones we need to fight for us in Washington.”
Earlier in the day, crowds lined up outside the school, waiting for the doors to open.
“I came to see my president. He’s still my president until I get a better one,” said Ron Trice, of Detroit, who came to the rally with his son Rahsaan, a 24-year-old law student at Western Michigan University. “I’m aware he’s the former president, but with all the insanity, I need somebody who can let me get to sleep at night. We’ve got too many things to worry about right now. I want to hear a little sanity today.”
Trice, a speech teacher at Wayne County Community College, said he’s sure to vote for Democrats on Nov. 6 and is urging his students to make it to the polls, too.
“They have to bring me the sticker or their grade will get dropped,” he jokingly said.
His son said the he knows younger people historically haven’t been very good about making it to the polls, “but I imagine that people will begin to realize that it’s up to us to fix the problems the older generation has kind of dumped in our lap. Hopefully, I won’t be the only one who will be voting,” Rahsaan Trice said.
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Obama made multiple Michigan stops during his presidency, including on the day before the election in 2016 to campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. While that visit didn’t help push Clinton over the finish line in Michigan — she lost to Donald Trump by 10,704 votes in the state — Obama did do well in Michigan when he ran for president in both 2008 and 2012.
In 2008, Obama beat U.S. Sen. John McCain in Michigan by 57-41 percent. And in 2012, he bested former Mbadachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who grew up in Michigan, 54-47 percent.
Jessica Anderson and Pamela Conrad, both 52 from Ann Arbor, shared a blanket in the biting wind and said because they are such staunch Democrats, they didn’t want to miss a visit from Obama.
“We’re his biggest fans. We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Anderson said.
This year was even more important for the pair, especially after watching the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“I have two daughters and there isn’t one woman I know who can’t say Me Too,” Conrad said. “To sit through the hearings and the abominable behavior and see what has been normalized has been really painful.”
While Obama was in Michigan on Friday. Vice President Mike Pence will travel across the state on Monday to campaign with Republican candidates including gubernatorial hopeful Bill Schuette, U.S. Senate candidate John James and U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga at a Monday evening rally at the DeltaPlex Arena in Grand Rapids and a Monday afternoon stop at Oakland International Airport in Waterford with Lena Epstein, who is running for the 11th congressional district seat, and U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, who is running in the 8th district.
It will be the third time Pence has come to Michigan to help out GOP candidates since the Aug. 7 primary.
Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, [email protected] or on Twitter @michpoligal.
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