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Former President Barack Obama spoke of the growing divisions within his own party, warning against pressure for ideological purity that could lead to a "circular squad" in a city hall held Saturday by the Obama Foundation in Berlin.
While answering questions from the audience about the frustration related to the lack of change, Obama said he was concerned about the lack of compromise in Washington. He is particularly concerned that progressive politicians may be potential allies.
"One of the things that sometimes worries me about progressives in the United States – maybe that's true here too – is some kind of rigidity in which we say," Oh, I'm sorry, it's like it's going to be, "Obama said." Then we sometimes start creating what we call a "circular platoon" in which you start shooting at your allies because one of them 39, it moves away from purity over issues. "
The former president said that he thought this approach "weakened" the movements and that those who would like to see a progressive agenda "must recognize that the way we structured democracy requires taking into account people who do not agree with you. "
Obama concluded his speech by advocating for patience and a gradual change: "We must be careful in balancing big dreams and bold ideas while recognizing that change usually happens in stages. And if you want to skip steps, you can. Historically, sometimes if you skip too many steps, you end up having bad results. "
What else did Obama talk about?
Obama took several questions from the public and used them to talk at length about the problems that Europe and the United States are facing.
The former president has not directly addressed the recent meeting of President Trump with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, nor Trump's critics with regard to the recent past. organization (the current president said that "NATO is as bad as NAFTA", for example), but Obama explained why he thought NATO was important.
"I can not say exactly what the United States and NATO are doing right now," Obama said. "I recognize that there are strains. … I think it's important not to separate military alliances – the strength of Europe over the last 20 or 30 years is not due to the fact that a lot of missiles have been fired. Fortunately, it's because the ideas have been won. "
Speaking about immigration in Sweden, Obama said: "We can not call racist all people disrupted by immigration. You know, it's a self-destructive tactic. You are pushing potential allies, people who may not have thought about it, but if they are exposed to new information and they meet people from other countries, they understand the nature of these different traditions and they see it. others are eager to work with you, then suddenly they go away: "Ah, agree.
Obama has also encouraged people to play a more active role in government, arguing that citizens with new ideas should reach out to open politicians.
"Sometimes we think the government is a" thing "separate from us," said Obama. "But if we are active citizens, our job is not just to make sure the government responds to you, but also to improve it."
He added, "What I mean, besides electing good people, is one of the things you can do, I think, is to encourage and work with governments to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies potentially find allies to improve processes within the government. "
Obama has called for a "new blood" in the past – and some of this new blood is in tension with the establishment of ideological purity
At an event organized by the Obama Foundation earlier this year, Obama called for "new blood" in the political ranks, but the Progressive New Democrats in the House sometimes disagreed with more well-known personalities political parties for reasons ranging from ideas like Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal.
For the most part, however, the Democrats followed Obama's initiative and strove to maintain unity in public.
As Vox's Ella Nilsen notes, when President Nancy Pelosi answered a question about the Green New Deal championed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), she said, "This is one of the many suggestions we receive. The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they agree, right? Ocasio-Cortez did not take this for granted. At first, a new congressman said, "I think it's a green dream. I do not consider it a contemptuous term. "
Similarly, the division of policies between Democracy 2020 candidates on issues such as trade, repairs, and even the elimination of systematic filibustering did not lead to the failure of the government. outbreak of hostilities – at least not yet.
When Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) clearly stated, "We should get rid of the obstruction," on Friday she did not criticize any of her fellow Democrats, arguing on the contrary: "For generations, obstruction is used as a way to block progress in racial justice. And in recent years it has been used by the far right as a way to block progress in all areas. "
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