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There he told why he has kept hope during the four years with Donald Trump as US president.
– Hope is not blind to optimism, it does not ignore problems. Hope is faith in the face of difficulties that we know we can overcome and create a better world, said the former president.
– So I have never lost hope during these four years. I’ve been angry I’ve been frustrated, but I haven’t given up hope, and the reason is that I never expected progress to move in a straight line.
– If you do not vote, you are not sitting at the table
The conversation with local leaders in an area of Philadelphia that still experiences great racial justice was the former president’s first physical event in this election campaign. Obama spoke to the men about the importance of engaging young people to vote and get interested in politics.
– If you don’t vote, you’re not sitting at the table. Then they will do things to you, Obama said.
– We cannot afford four new years
The former president asked those present not to let the decline of the last four years discourage them, but warned that the country could not afford four new years like these.
– The last four years have shown that we probably became overly optimistic about how much change had occurred in this country after my election. But that change was real, and it was a setback, it was also real, he continued.
– The test now is that we as a people must take it to the next level. We are tough and strong enough to surpass what we have seen in the last four years. We can’t afford four new years with this. Then we go back so far that it’s hard to get out of that hole.
Obama did not mention Trump by name at the meeting, but was harsh in his criticism of the president’s coronation.
– The pandemic would be difficult for any president, Obama admitted, before emphasizing “the degree of incompetence and misinformation” and “the number of people who could not have died if the basics had been done correctly.”
