Dems wheel out heavy artillery Obama to save face in midterms. Despite former US President Barack Obamas repeated entreaties to the electorate, the polarisation in favour of Donald Trump in the upcoming midterms appears overwhelming. Obama is like the Democrats rolling out the heavy artillery to prevent a return of once beleaguered Trump whose fortunes are on an upswing.
Common folk are upset with a weak White House helmed by Biden and are seeking the return of a tougher and more decisive Trump. My taxi driver was hugely upset with economic tumult plaguing the country. As he said, America needs to redefine itself again, only Trump can set the nation on that path, gun violence is a rampant issue, as is abortion, even as the economy is caught in a maelstrom.
Obama is criss-crossing Arizona against a backdrop high energy and food prices, even as the yield on the two-year US Treasury note climbed to its highest level since July 2007 on Thursday as markets weighed the Federal Reserve’s fourth consecutive 75 basis point rate hike and warnings of more increases ahead. In many ways, it is a triple witching hour in the US – potentially on the cusp of a recession, a fragile White House and a extraordinarily spike in inflation even as unemployment data is expected later today. This comes at a time when consumer price index print is expected next week which can only compound the slowdown.
The Washington Post reported that Obama was on the campaign trail in Arizona when he was called out by a heckler in the crowd and swiftly spun it into a broader messaging opportunity about the country’s increasingly toxic political landscape. Democracy is in danger is the underlying message being spun out by the Democrats — President Joe Biden, now mirrored by Obama.
The irony was that Obama on Wednesday told a heckler at a Phoenix campaign event to “set up your own rally” after the individual shouted and interrupted his speech.
ABC news added that Obama continued his crisscrossing of midterm election battlegrounds Wednesday in Arizona — hoping to turn out voters so Democrats can hold the Senate and keep election deniers out of office.
“Our democracy is on the ballot, and nowhere is that clearer than here in Arizona,” Obama said.
A crowd of thousands, of all ages and races, packed inside the Cesar Chavez High School in Laveen Village, held up their phones and stomped their feet as the former President delivered a roast and a warning on what he called the Republican “cast of characters” on the ballot in Arizona.
“They have decided it’s advantageous for them to just assert that Donald Trump won the last election, and now they want control over the next election. And their argument has no basis in reality,” Obama said.
“If you’ve got an election denier serving as your governor, as your senator, as your secretary of state, as your attorney general, then democracy, as we know it, may not survive in Arizona.”
