Barack Obama Torches Trump in Chicago Speech
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What did Barack Obama emphasize in his speech at the Presidential Library?
Former President Barack Obama just delivered the knockout punch to Donald Trump in what I think may have been one of Obama's best speeches, yet he gave a speech at the opening of his presidential library. He began by talking about how this nation, on our 250th birthday, should always remember, no kings. Let's play this clip right here.
A declaration that we are all created equal. endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that in the newly independent United States, there will be no kings or lords, no serfs or subjects, but only citizens, each of us free to pursue our own version of happiness and able to determine our collective fate to an elected representative government. It had not been done.
Powerful words indeed. Former President Obama then talked about how, with everything going on in the world, I'm not immune to anger or doubt, but I do know this, a powerful message that we should all be listening to. Let's play this clip.
I get it. I am not immune to anger or doubt. But I do know this. When we lose faith in each other, when we stop believing that voting matters, that citizenship matters, that our collective voices matter, that how we treat each other no longer matters, then we give away our power to decide our own futures. We open the door to the most ruthless or the most careless or the most fearful among us who see some groups and some people as more equal than others and see government as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies and keep those who are different in their place. I do not believe that is the story of America that prevails in the end. I don't believe it because for us to give up, for us to give in now, after all this country's been through, to cynicism and division would be a betrayal of our founding ideas, a betrayal of our faith.
And I remain convinced that the overwhelming majority of Americans feel the same way. That as unsettled as we are, people aren't looking for perpetual anger and division. They are looking for fairness and common sense and mutual respect that deep in our gut, we want to find a way to turn towards each other again, not further away.
Former President Obama also talks about how when American foreign policy lives up to our highest ideals, lives up to our values, when we champion human rights and democracy, we can take the lead in very important ways. And obviously, he's building a major contrast here between himself and Donald Trump. Let's play it.
Yes, America has made its share of foreign policy mistakes. Our actions have not always matched our rhetoric. We've learned that we can't solve every conflict or stop every atrocity around the globe, but at our best, the United States has been an undeniable force for good in the world. And what I heard on every continent as president is that when American foreign policy lives up to our highest ideals, when we champion human rights and democracy and the sound stewardship of our planet, when we take the lead in eradicating disease and feeding the hungry and educating children, when we encourage cooperation between nations, instead of trying to dominate and bully and squeeze every advantage just because we can.
And most of all, when we show through our example here at home, that even a country as big and diverse as ours can make democracy work, it turns out all nations, including ours, become more prosperous and secure. And the world gets a little bit brighter.
And then he goes in to talk about forming a more perfect union, how our founders in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution made some major errors, some catastrophic ones. However, they left a framework for future generations to perfect the union. Here, play this clip.
To pursue our own version of happiness and able to determine our collective fate through an elected representative government. It had not been done. And because it hadn't been done before, the success of this experiment was never a given. In forming our union, the founders felt terribly short of the declaration's promise.
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