Former President Barack Obama will, through the Obama Foundation and with the partnership of a pair of universities, be hosting a two-day event in New York City shortly after the midterm elections that will highlight and further push to protect democracy in the U.S. and around the world.
As has been well established amid the modern era’s renewed threats to democracy from Republican affronts against duly documented election results, democracy isn’t something that can reasonably be taken for granted. At present, there are Republican candidates running in high-stakes elections nationwide who are challenging the persistence of election integrity with lies about what’s actually going on. If they gain power, they could take action in accordance with these lies, including examples like refusing to go along with the certification of various election results. Other examples of the threat include the repeated instances of security breaches targeting election machines after the 2020 presidential race. Situations along these lines unfolded in Georgia and Colorado, the latter of which has already led to criminal charges. Sensitive materials were covertly copied amid the search for fraud that investigators already proved didn’t exist, and data began circulating, potentially facilitating technological threats.
“At a time when democracy is under threat around the world, what gives me hope is the potential of the next generation of leaders. I couldn’t be more excited to announce the [Obama Foundation’s] global convening focused on the ideas that are essential to our democracy. This November, I’ll be joining [Obama Foundation] leaders to discuss how we can adapt democracies and our institutions for a new age,” Obama said Monday. Although the foundation characterized the scheduling in seemingly different terms, media reports identified the forum as taking place November 17 and 18, and the November event will unfold in cooperation with Columbia University and the University of Chicago, according to publicly available info from the foundation. CNN says Obama is angling for the event to annually take place again in subsequent years.
“He’ll make a handful of appearances on the campaign trail, bundling appearances for candidates for Senate and governor and secretaries of state, arguing that Democrats winning those races is essential to preserving democracy,” CNN added. Presumably, that list would include states like Pennsylvania and Arizona, both of which are swing states where the last presidential election results were highly contested and where whoever wins upcoming elections could substantially impact how such results are handled in 2024. Meanwhile, Obama is also reportedly remaining in touch with President Joe Biden, with whom he spoke in August to congratulate the current president on the passage of the wide-ranging Inflation Reduction Act, a bill covering climate policy, healthcare, and more that Obama also publicly touted.
Obama is also meeting with world leaders, including around the time of a speech he delivered in Copenhagen touting democracy. “Sometimes it just turns out they’re mean, they’re racist, they’re sexist, they’re angry. And your job is then to just beat them because they’re not persuadable,” Obama said, discussing dealing with opposition figures, according to a transcript that CNN obtained — although he also warned about getting too self-righteous to the point of losing sight of important principles driving these efforts.
This November, I’ll be joining @ObamaFoundation leaders to discuss how we can adapt democracies and our institutions for a new age. Find out more: https://t.co/40azdAYUWV
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 10, 2022
