Barack Obama deserves all the privacy in the world. The former president of the US spent eight years being attacked by Congress and the media for the most ridiculous things (the color of his suit, his religion, his birth state), so when he finally left office, many of his supporters were happy for him. Obama could finally rest and relax with his wife and kids, and enjoy the world without cameras in his face all day. Barack ditched his life of privacy for a moment and returned to the front lines this past week when he spoke at the Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Thursday.
There were no cameras allowed into the event, but Politico detailed much of Obama's speech from that night. According to Politico, during the speech, Obama neglected to touch on several divisive issues that are currently on the minds of every American (like illegal immigrants). He instead spoke about his hopes for the Democratic party and his own regrets as president. “I’ll be honest with you, if I have a regret during my presidency, it is that people were so focused on me and the battles we were having, particularly after we lost the House, that folks stopped paying attention up and down the ballot,” Obama said. The former president feels like all the media attention that was focused on him distracted voters from real issues, like voting for congress members. Obama also avoided naming Trump personally, but did speak about several policies championed by the current president's administration.
“Fear is powerful,” Obama stated. “Telling people that somebody’s out to get you, or somebody took your job, or somebody has it out for you, or is going to change you, or your community, or your way of life — that’s an old story and it has shown itself to be powerful in societies all around the world. It is a deliberate, systematic effort to tap into that part of our brain that carries fear in it.” He also urged Democrats to stop looking for the perfect candidate. “Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you’re expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, ‘OK, I’ll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote,’” he began before speaking about the GOP. “They don’t worry about inspiration,” Obama declared. “They worry about winning the seat and they are very systematic about work not just at the presidential level but at the congressional and state legislative levels.”
