Category Archives: Barack Obama

Kamala Harris makes history, Barack Obama slams Trump: day three at the DNC – video highlights

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Kamala Harris officially accepted her vice-presidential nomination on the third day of the Democratic national convention. Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, joined her on stage alongside Joe Biden and his wife, Jill. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Gabrielle Giffords were among the many figures who condemned Donald Trump's presidency and pledged their support for the Biden-Harris ticket

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Barack Obama’s fiery DNC speech in full – video

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Barack Obama delivered a powerful message calling for voters to protect American democracy during the third night of the Democratic national convention.  The former president argued that Donald Trump’s potential re-election posed an existential threat to the country’s democratic values and institutions, and he implored voters to 'embrace your own responsibility as citizens'

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Obama’s stark message: America must save itself from Trump | Analysis

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Analysis: The former president issued an unprecedented attack on his successor as he urged voters to rescue their democracy

Just four years ago, amid balloons, confetti, dry ice smoke and giant TV screens, Donald Trump struck an authoritarian tone as he accepted the nomination at the Republican national convention before a frenzied crowd. It prompted warnings of the impending death of democracy, and the end of America’s gloriously chequered 244-year journey. But no one really believed it.

However, Barack Obama is now clearly taking the fall of Rome theory seriously. No former US president has criticised his successor at a party convention as he did on Wednesday night, and none has warned that his successor “will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win”.

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Kamala Harris accepts vice-presidential nomination on historic night

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Democratic nominee urges voters to reject Donald Trump and says: ‘We can do better and deserve so much more’

Kamala Harris, a California senator and daughter of immigrants who has broken racial barriers at every step of her political career, made US history on Wednesday night as she became the first Black woman and first Asian American to formally accept a major party’s vice-presidential nomination.

In the most consequential speech of her career to date, Harris urged voters to reject the divisive and destructive leadership of Donald Trump, calling him a president who “turns our tragedies into political weapons”.

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Democratic national convention day three: Barack Obama & Kamala Harris lead speeches – watch in full

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Democrats stage the third night of their online convention after formally nominating Joe Biden as the presidential candidate for November’s election. The main speakers on Wednesday include Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi

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Obama and Trump highlight two Americas as election draws nearer

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Analysis: as the former president eulogized a civil rights hero, his beleaguered successor seemed intent on undermining faith in democracy

  • Join us for a live digital event with the former US attorney general Eric Holder to discuss voter suppression in the 2020 election, Thursday at 5pm ET. Register now

They were six hours that defined two Americas as well as exposing the magnitude of the decision facing voters in November.

At 8.30am on Thursday, the US government announced that gross domestic product had suffered the biggest decline on record because of a coronavirus-induced shutdown. Minutes later, Donald Trump warned on Twitter that “2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history” – and suggested that it should be postponed.

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Obama, Bush and Clinton speak at funeral for congressman John Lewis – video

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Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and House speaker Nancy Pelosi have delivered eulogies for congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Hailing him as founding father for 'a fuller, fairer, better' America, Obama praised Lewis's influence on his own path to the presidency. Clinton said Lewis believed 'none of us will be free until all of us are equal', while Bush said he lived in a better and nobler country because of the congressman


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Barack Obama: John Lewis fought for our highest ideals | Barack Obama

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In a transcript of his remarks at the congressman’s funeral, the former president calls on Americans to follow Lewis’s lead at a time of crisis

Representative John Lewis, a legendary civil rights leader and member of Congress, died of cancer on 17 July. In a eulogy at his memorial on Thursday, Barack Obama spoke about Lewis’s legacy, especially the importance of continuing his fight to protect voting rights. This is an abridged version of his remarks.

James wrote to the believers: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

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Obama attacks police brutality and voter suppression in powerful eulogy for John Lewis – video

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During the funeral of congressman John Lewis, former US president Barack Obama delivered a powerful eulogy in which he praised the late civil rights icon, saying Lewis 'will be a founding father of a fuller, fairer, better America'. 

In his speech, Obama also received standing ovations for his indirect criticism of the Trump administration's decision to send federal agents to peaceful demonstrations in Portland, and his condemnation of voter suppression tactics in the US

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Obama hails John Lewis as founding father of ‘fuller, better’ US in eulogy

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Former president called for Americans to fight Trump’s effort to undermine the right to vote in eulogy at congressman’s funeral

Barack Obama hailed John Lewis as a founding father of “a fuller, better” United States in a soaring eulogy on Thursday, while forcefully calling on Americans to stand up to the forces threatening a cause the late congressman was willing to die for: the right to vote.

From the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr once preached, Obama traced the arch of Lewis’s life – a child born into the Jim Crow south, the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, a leader of the civil rights marches in Selma, and a US congressman from Georgia – tying his legacy to the present-day civil rights protests ignited by the death of George Floyd, a black man under the knee of a white police officer. He then drew a line from the racist leaders who opposed civil rights in the 1960s to the policies and ideologies embraced by Donald Trump.

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Barack Obama leads tributes to civil rights leader John Lewis – live

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Donald Trump has broken his silence on the passing of John Lewis with a tweet posted moments ago.

“Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing,” he wrote. “Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family.

Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing. Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family.

Joe Biden will run campaign ads during Donald Trump’s eagerly awaited interview with Fox News Sunday tomorrow – to go a bit Friends for a second, that being The One In Which Trump Says Biden Wants To Defund The Police And Chris Wallace Says Hang On A Minute, Not So, And Trump Gets A Little Testy.

Related: Trump clashes with Fox News interviewer over false claim about Biden

Related: 'The virus doesn't care about excuses': US faces terrifying autumn as Covid-19 surges

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Knife-edge Polish presidential race could slow the march of populism

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As liberal Rafał Trzaskowski gains on rightwing Andrzej Duda, LGBT rights are among issues at stake in Poland and beyond

When Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, goes up against his liberal challenger in a presidential run-off next Sunday, there will be more at stake than just the medium-term political trajectory of the country. The vote is set to be one of the closest and most important European elections in recent years, and the result will resonate well beyond Poland’s borders.

Duda takes on liberal challenger Rafał Trzaskowski in a race that numerous polls suggest is too close to call. The final outcome will be watched closely by European leaders wary of Poland’s recent political direction, and by progressive politicians worldwide seeking lessons about what does or doesn’t work in taking on populists at the ballot box.

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Joe Biden and Barack Obama raise $11m in first 2020 fundraiser together

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In official return to the campaign trail, former president urged 175,000 viewers not to be ‘complacent’ about 2020 race

Barack Obama made his first campaign appearance alongside Joe Biden since endorsing him for president in April, helping raise more than $11m while warning Democrats against being “complacent or smug” about the presidential race.

The virtual fundraiser collected $7.6m from 175,000 grassroots contributors according to the Biden campaign. The former president and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also hosted a private online portion for high-dollar donors, which was not open to reporters, and brought in more than $3.4m.

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Barack Obama: ‘You matter, your lives matter, your dreams matter’ – video

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Addressing a panel from his My Brother's Keeper movement in the wake of George Floyd's death, former US president Barack Obama had a message of hope for young people of colour, saying they had witnessed too much violence. 'I want you to know you matter, your lives matter, your dreams matter,' he said.  Obama also discussed the idea that both voting and protest can 'bring about real change' and that the current scary times can be an opportunity.


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Barack Obama poised to add his star appeal to Joe Biden’s campaign

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The former president, the most popular politician in America with a huge social media following, can bolster the Democratic nominee with key groups and drive voter registration

Former president Barack Obama has dipped his toes into the 2020 presidential campaign recently and is positioned to do more in the coming months as Joe Biden’s effort to defeat Donald Trump gathers steam.

Interviews with about a dozen Democratic strategists, officials and people close to Obama indicated members of the party want the popular former president to use his powerful online presence and focus on rallying key Democrat constituencies that are critical to a Biden victory.

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President calls negative hydroxychloroquine study ‘a Trump enemy statement’ – as it happened

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Patrick Wintour and Julian Borger report:

Member states have backed a resolution strongly supportive of the World Health Organization, after Donald Trump issued a fresh broadside against the UN body, giving it 30 days to make unspecified reforms or lose out on US funding.

Related: Member states back WHO after renewed Donald Trump attack

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‘If it was me, they would do it’: Trump reacts to dismissed ‘Obamagate’ investigation – video

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After US attorney general William Barr dismissed the possibility of investigating 'Obamagate', president Donald Trump responded 'If it was me, they would do it'. The president has called 'Obamagate': "The biggest political crime in American history, by far!" However Trump has failed to detail his exact accusations

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Jesse Jackson: ‘The gated community does not protect you from the pandemic’

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After more than 50 years fighting for civil rights, the activist is now watching coronavirus ravage African American communities. But he has a warning for the rich and powerful

The Rev Jesse Jackson was born in the racially segregated south when Franklin Roosevelt occupied the White House and war raged in Europe. He was an eyewitness to the assassination of Martin Luther King, campaigned against the Vietnam war and twice ran for US president.

But, now an elder statesman of 78, he has never seen anything like the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 1 million Americans and killed more in April alone than died in Vietnam over 15 years. The world’s most powerful and wealthy country also bears by far its biggest death toll: almost 90,000. It is enough to shake faith in American exceptionalism.

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