Obama’s comments appear in a new video supporting Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50 which would allow the California legislature to draw new congressional boundaries ahead of the midterms
Barack Obama has entered the political fray ahead of November’s special election in California, accusing Republicans of attempting to “rig the next election” in a new ad backing Governor Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50, a ballot measure that could reshape the state’s congressional map.
“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama says in the 30-second ad, urging voters to approve the proposal. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.”
All this astrofurfing and campaigning for Newsom is just a proactive effort to preempt any radical voices from gaining traction from the anti-Trump momentum. That’s the top of their agenda right now, institutional integrity and democracy is at best second.
This is a great example of “the left” being manipulated to turn on itself. Newsom ain’t great but he is better than anything my former party Republicans put forth. If he makes it through the primaries, please for the love of Satan vote for him in the general. If Republicans win again it’s completely over. If I were still one I’d be completely OK with so many worse things happening. Be more scared of what is yet to come than a groveling centrist like Newsom.
And? Of course they are going to do this shit. Good people don’t rise against great evil, sort of evil people use it to slither into power.
MMW: Prop 50 is going to make somethings worse. I live on a blue island in a red sea in the blue state of California. Disenfranchising voters is going to lead to violence. If they were serious they would give us rank choice voting.
Ranked choice makes no sense until the majority of states implement it.
This disenfranchises no one.
for the love of God, don’t stick us with newsome
I think USAmericans gotta hit the streets, now, yelling “We won’t vote for Gruesome Newsom” just in case we do get a 2028 Election. If we don’t destroy his campaign now, he’ll be ushered to the front of the Democratic Primary like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
AOC is my top choice, but I know everybody has a million reasons why America wouldn’t elect her as president.
But, I had this thought the other day, and I know this is nobody’s dream team, but possibly the odd couple situation that just might work. Am I crazy for thinking a Pritzker-AOC ticket might actually have a decent chance?
The Pritzkers are literally the billionaire family of the Hyatt hotel chain fortune. They are, if anything, one part of the problem with the democratic establishment. If you want there to be zero change in society when it comes to taxing the wealthy to create social safety nets, JB is your guy.
Realistically there is zero chance that an actual progressive and a Pritzker could ever function on one ticket. Thats like Bernie running with Bezos, it makes no sense
Pritzker is a guy who comes from money but actually does try and govern for the people. I live in Illinois and he did a bang up job for COVID, is actively doing things to try and fight/resist ICE and shows up in person to talk to the people, has signed vaccination protections to law, he helped to get stalled projects (like road repairs) going, he’s helped with education funding and requiring homeschooling to have more standards, and more.
Yeah, he’s not perfect but he’s at least one who fucking fights for the people and is trying to find ways to make things better for us in Illinois. I truly believe he would do the same on a national level.
Nobody hates Sociopathic Oligarchs more than I do, but there have been cases of ultra-wealthy people being sympathetic to the people.
The best example is Franklin Roosevelt. By my general way of thinking, I never would have supported him based on his wealth alone. And yet he went in to do more for working people than any 10 presidents combined.
So while my general attitude is to NEVER support a billionaire for office, I am prepared to make exceptions for the right candidate, but they have a very high bar to clear to get my support.
Pritzker is looking like a possibility, but I’m still deciding. I’d love AOC, but she’s problematic at this stage. I can’t stand establishment Dems like Newsome. But I will vote for anyone who vows to purge MAGA from our government and our society, reconfigure our government to remove MAGA advantages, and then follows through.
We have to deal decisively with MAGA before we can do any thing else. We can deal with progressive policies after that.
Definitely among the top five people that should be president. AOC is my first pick, but I would be alright with Pritzker too. Newsom is vaguely acceptable, in the sense that he at least has the ability to lead and isn’t a complete idiot. I guess he would at #10.
I never said he is a bad governor or even a bad politician. I said it is antithetical for anyone who is legitimate progressive to run with him. The Prtizkers at large are the type of people who are democrats in the interest of protecting their money. Typical establishment democrats who will make limited concessions in whatever way is needed to prevent any radical change from occurring. No DemSoc or Progressive candidates or voters should be foolish enough to let the fox be in charge of the henhouse
Being better than nutjob conservative billionaires doesnt make someone a good fit to run with progressive candidates
We will see if the progressives like Mandani can do what they say. There is still a lot of resistance in law and interests against them. I think that’s why people get these aspirations to do big positive things in government and then can’t because reality hits. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s going to take multiple years and rounds of those kinds of elections and the voters do not have that patience.
So the argument most people seem to focus on regarding AOC is that she’s too far left, especially in terms of economics. If we could have an actual progressive VP, I would hope we could logically then actually have a progressive as a president.
Pritzker may be from a wealthy family, and not be extremely progressive in terms of economics, but several of his economic policies seem more progressive than a lot of establishment Democrats. They would be an odd couple, but might offset each other enough to make a good team and cast a wide net.
He raised minimum wage in his state to $15 an hour back in 2019, he passed a law to protect collective bargaining, and he passed a graduated tax law that didn’t make people making $250K or less pay more in taxes.
I would say the least likeable trait, and probably the thing that would make their pairing least likely, would be his unwillingness to call for the ceasefire in Israel until October of 2024 (which sadly is still a better track record than a lot of establishment Dems).
It’s also worth noting that he apparently funded his own campaign for governor with his own wealth, and that could make him less beholden to big donors like many establishment Dems.
I also think he and AOC are two of the few politicians who could really mop the floor with the MAGA narrative control bullshit, and their individual strengths and differences could make them more difficult to target with typical narrative control attacks.
You guys demand democrats stand up to trump and the moment one does, you sit on them and kick them down. You guys deserve every bit of trump
Making memes online is not standing up to a fascist, thats a delusional take. Pritzker vowing to arrest people who help ICE agents is standing up to a fascist. And neither of those things alone make’s a good candidate.
I like Pritzker, but vowing isn’t action.
You people deserve trump
I just wanted a cookie.
He ain’t fucking wrong.
He is only telling a part of the truth, the palatable part, while disingenuously omitting the rest.
They also rigged the last election, and every election for several decades.
If all of the Geriatric Old Pedophiles various attempts at election fraud were prosecuted the US wouldn’t be a failing fascist state today.
“Purging” voters, “gerrymandering”, etc are morally and ethically no different than election fraud; you’ve already chosen treason against democracy.
“They rigged the election, and I became president,”
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-quote-rigged-election-president/
Every accusation is a confession.
This entire attack on blue cities is so obviously an extension of the ballot box violence scare tactics used by the red hats during the last election.
I don’t see anyone pointing it out in the media.
He’s wrong if he’s supporting Newsom
You better start finding a better candidate bro before the lesser evil is nominated then.
You can’t complain about what is happening around you unless you give a solution.
AOC
It’s so funny how people get all up in arms defending shitbag neolibs as if they have no other option when the democratic socialist are literally right there.
People like the guy you responded to are why we keep losing, fucking crabs in a bucket.
You can’t complain about what is happening around you unless you give a solution.
This is the stupidest take, give me one reason why? Am I also not allowed to complain about the rising cancer rates without giving a solution for those? I sure as shit better not hear you complain about AI ever again unless you can tell me how to fix it too. And global warming? Better just shut the fuck up about it until you personally have a plan on how to fix that.
All this phrase is is a cudgel to shut up people you don’t want to have to address.
Yes you can complain and should complain, probably louder. Have fun licking boot, people like you are why we got Trump.
Be the change you want to see, complain all you want but all you are doing is setting yourself and the world around you for more complaining.
(Spoilers for disco elysium) You remind me of that disco elysium communist ending, where all the comrades end up wasting their lives complaining about the bourgeoisie without actually doing anything about it, getting drunk every night each taking turns judging which sickly misery inducing rant was the most powerful.
“Be the change you want to see”
All I’ve seen you do is shut down conversation with bullshit about how neolibs are our only option.
Is that what you want to see?
People on their highhorse bullshit like this is exactly how we wound up with trump.
Real world is the levellers and the diggers and good ol’ Oliver Cromwell.
Everyone complaining. Everyone calling for change. King killed. No one had a plan for after.
Systems will only change if there is an environment conducive of that change.
I would argue Obama knows this. Change is incremental.
The smallest balls are still the biggest in a room full of eunuchs… The only thing good about Newsom is his PR team’s social media campaigns, and sadly that puts him far ahead of everyone else. Literally nothing else makes him worthy of consideration (or even mention). Dems have gone out of their way to be as inept and complicit as possible, and have purged nearly all authenticity from the party. It’s a hollow shell for capital interests wrapped in a pride flag and a costume of ‘civility.’ It’s fucking embarrassing that he’s as popular as he is right now, but that’s the best you can get from ‘liberals’ who see Bernie and Mamdani as a threat.
Enjoy more trump then
The answer isn’t Newsom or Trump. I’d take Warren, despite her age. I’d take AOC.
If newsom wins the primary then you take newsom in the general.
I don’t want him to win the primary either but I’m not stupid.
Remember when Biden and the Democrats reversed Trump’s damage by keeping his border restrictions and asylum crackdowns “for now, just until the system’s ready”? upholding several of his fossil fuel leases because “our hands are tied”? dragging their feet on reinstating clean water and emissions rules because the EPA needed more studies? maintaining bloated Pentagon budgets and arms sales while calling it “responsible leadership”? doing nothing to undo Trump’s tax cuts for corporations, but telling working people that the economy is “booming”? forgetting about the Stream Protection Rule, union rights, and the public option once the election was over? and still treating whistleblowers, immigrants, and Palestine like they’re political inconveniences?
The adults will be back in the room with Newsom.
Newsom’s stance against human rights is concerning. Newsom’s sophomoric trolling against Trump is not Presidential. If his campaign did it? Sure. But this is coming from him. I don’t want a man child in office. Newsom is captive to corporations. That’s not what I want for my President.
I’m sorry, but Newsom gives me the same ick as Trump. I would consider third party if Newsom is nominated. That’s how much I don’t want him to be president, and I voted for both Biden and Harris.
I am tired of people with your attitude. Holy shit you’re an insufferable group.
Newsom is a transphobe, hates the homeless, supports Israel, and thinks we need to continue Kirk’s great work.
That guy, out of 8 billion, is your champion of freedom and democracy? Because his 19 year old intern mocks Trump on social media?
Edit: Go ahead and keep down voting me. I know what I stand for and support. You putting this half-nazi on a pedestal for the most vapid hollow shit is not the moral superiority you think it is. People look at the US and call us fascist inbreds who should be quarantined precisely because vaguely center right posers like Newsom are supposed to be some paragon of American progressivism. Shit is embarassing.
*Citation needed.
Nowhere near as hard as you think it is
As far as I can tell, Newsom is just a ‘fascist, but not too obvious, so people won’t protest’ kind of candidate. A perfect pick if you want to salvage what remains of the empire and delay its inevitable collapse. But then again, it’s not like Americans have any reasonable candidates. And we’re also going on the assumption that there will be another election, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Would he be an improvement for the American people? And for other countries? At the very least, minorities in the USA would be [mostly] safe for a few years.
He’s just your stereotypical neoliberal corporate Democrat which is a much better alternative to Trump’s admin. I don’t like Newsom like most on here, but if he gets the nomination still show the fuck up.
He’s a capitalist. Fascist I don’t think so. We have to stop purity testing left candidates, it’s a trap. So what if he doesn’t have every opinion we have - he’s more in touch with the average voter on those issues, frankly. We need to start thinking like we want to win, not like we want to be right.
He’s a capitalist.
He’s an American politician. Of course he is.
Inb4 I’m not calling you (specifically you) out. The you is aimed at “People of America” as a whole
independent of left or right, I’d like to say you guys need to elect someone that doesn’t expand that list further more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change
In other words, Could You All Please Stop Fucking Raping The “Global South”? Pretty Please???
And I’m using the word rape both metaphorically and literal at the same time. Also, I’m not downplaying the word. I’m just pointing out the fucked up things US (as a nation) did to all of us outside of “global north”, “western civilization”, “first world” or whatever term you guys keeping using to refer to us, the “inferior” class of “subhumans” people.
The US was always imperialist, but now the masks are off and Trump is just bringing what US did to other countries (see the list above) inwards to US. That’s why most of the population are worried.
Except for the few leftist that called out what US always was, most people aren’t worried of US raping other countries. But they are now worried because the military force is turning inwards against the enemy within.
Leftists in USA do need to band together, and I feel like it is more difficult to do so because of our individually. Most of our goals are common.
They are actively shaping the electoral environment. They don’t just want to, they are actively preparing to do so.
So they’re finally acknowledging it.
I swear… if Trump lasts past 2028, I’m gonna lose my shit
Lets not forget Obama (in-part) paved the way for the shit we’re in now
Fuck Obama. What a slimy grifter he is. Hope and change my ass.
Edit: Liberals man. Obama was objectively a liar who campaigned as a progessive and governed like a centrist liberal. He spent his whole admin engaging in endless war crimes abroad while tirelessly working to destroy the left in our country paving the way for the fascist surge we are seeing today.
He could have done stuff to move us away from this path but instead doubled down on it. Go read a fucking a book y’all are remembering history with rose colored glasses.
Project Red Map was never a secret.
Wow, Obama’s political instincts are as sharp as ever. Can’t think of anyone more charismatic and respected than Governor Newsom 🤗
Obama is supporting the referendum. That’s a good thing.
Of course. The referendum. Yes I agree of course.
What was your previous username?
So you’re sitting there seething wishing you could blow me up with your mind Scanners-style, that’s great. My last username was on Mastodon, I submitted posts to Lemmy by tagging communities, and few of them went through.
Does that make it easier for you to attempt to refute anything I am saying? Or did you completely give up on that because it was too hard?
“they are trying to rig the election, so vote Yes on this ballot where we do the same thing they are”
Politics these days are hilarious.
late stage everything - smoke em if you got em
Yeah how dare they fight fire with fire and not just accept the end of democracy…
For real though, thanks Obama. Miss you…
What would you suggest they do?
Go even harder! decorum and precedent are long gone, it’s nice that some of the Dem leaders have woken up.
So it’s nice that they have woken up but you’re simultaneously complaining they have gone to far?
