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Conservatives fire back at Obama, say he sowed the division that led to
Trump
William Cummings, USA TODAY Published 2:12 p.m. ET Sept. 10, 2018 |
Updated 2:22 p.m. ET Sept. 10, 2018
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Former President Barack Obama says the midterm elections in November
will give Americans the chance to — in his words — "restore some sanity
in our politics" by changing control of Congress. (Sept. 8) AP
Former President Barack Obama is on the campaign trail, stumping for
Democratic candidates in a midterm election in which he says our very
democracy is at stake. And many conservative politicians and pundits
were happy to get the chance to relive the Obama years and point to what
they perceive as his failures in office.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in response to Obama's speech that,
"The more former President Obama speaks about the ‘good ol years’ of his
presidency, the more likely President Trump is to get re-elected."
Former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka said Obama's "whole eight-year
presidency was an embarrassment when it comes to everything from the
economy to national security."
Several conservatives jumped on Obama's assertion that President Donald
Trump was brought to power by the forces in America that "keep us
divided and keep us angry and keep us cynical." They said it was Obama,
not Trump, who first used rhetoric to pit groups of Americans against
each other.
More: GOP thinks Obama's anti-Trump message will rally Republican base
during midterm elections
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent a series of tweets outlining times he
felt Obama was guilty of using divisive language, including his infamous
2008 line where he accused "cynical" voters of clinging to "guns or
religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them."
Marco Rubio
✔
@marcorubio
Pres. Obama is right. It is wrong for a President to use divisive
language, such as:
1. Call all opponents of same-sex marriage bigots
2. Call the Pro-Life movement a "War on Women"
3. Call all immigration enforcement advocates racists
4. Call the GOP the enemy of Hispanics
Marco Rubio
✔
@marcorubio
Barack Obama on people left behind by new economy: “And it’s not
surprising then they get bitter,they cling to guns or religion or
antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment
or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro derided Obama for a "full-throttled, savage
attack" on Trump. She particularly took issue with Obama's statement
that Trump has been "capitalizing" on America's historical resentments.
More: Read transcript of former President Obama's speech, blasting
President Trump
"Are you kidding?" asked an incredulous Pirro. "If anyone has stoked
racial hatred and divisiveness, it's you," she said, citing Obama's
actions in the wake of the 2014 police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri,
that helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement.
"The only reason that we have an outsider, businessman president is
because of you, your lies, your policies and your divisiveness," Pirro
said. "You, Barack, you elected Donald Trump."
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also took issue with Obama's
attempt to blame America's divisions on Trump, calling it "richly
ironic" for him to refer to Trump as a "symptom" of the divide.
"He was the president for the eight years when the cause was being
created," Christie said on "ABC This Week" on Sunday. "But the president
acts like he's detached from this, that somehow he was a dispassionate
observer during the eight years beforehand."
Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly slammed Obama for violating the
unwritten code of former presidents not publicly criticizing their
predecessors. But O'Reilly said Obama's appearances will be good news
for Trump and the Republicans because it reminds voters of two things:
that Obama's "economic policies harmed many Americans" and that
"evidence points to powerful people within the Obama administration
misusing the FBI and federal judges to illegally surveil the Trump
campaign."
In his speech Friday, Obama told the crowd that "when you hear how great
the economy's doing right now," it is important to "remember when this
recovery started."
Stephen Moore, who served as economic adviser to Trump during the
campaign, called it "preposterous" for Obama to take credit for the
booming economy. Moore said the economy was slowing down dramatically at
the end of Obama's second term and that the current growth started as "a
result of the fact that Obama and Clinton were not going to be office
anymore."
Fox Business host Stuart Varney called it a "stretch" for Obama to take
credit for the economy.
"Today's stellar 4 percent growth is clearly the result of tax cuts and
deregulation. That's Trump, it's not Obama," said Varney.
Conservative Eric Bolling tweeted that it is "disgraceful" to see Obama
taking credit for Trump's successes.
Score So Far-
TRUMP:
-Unemployment Rate
-GDP
-Wage Growth
-# Blacks Employed
-# Hispanics Employed
-# Women Employed
-ISIS Wins
-Homegrown Terror Events
OBAMA:
-Slick Speaking
-School Shootings
But Democrats like their chances heading into November, and many are
happy to embrace Obama's message.
Mike Levin, who is running for the seat left open by retiring GOP Rep.
Darrell Issa in California, tweeted that Obama "left Trump an economy on
third base. Trump thinks he hit a triple."
“I think President Obama is a powerful reminder of what a presidential
leader looks like, and that’s a contrast to Donald Trump,” Katie Porter,
who is running to unseat California Republican Rep. Mimi Walters, told
Politico.
But some, like Andrew Janz, who is trying to topple incumbent California
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, are keeping more of a cautious distance.
"I’m going to run my own race," Janz told Politico. "I am really focused
on making sure that the voters of my district know that I am not
somebody that is going to be controlled by the national party."