To know Barack and Michelle is to understand: They have always believed that leadership is about leaving something behind that empowers others.
Today's opening of the Obama Presidential Center reflects that vision. It will continue to invest in future generations and encourage people to see themselves as part of something bigger.
Congratulations, my friends. What a remarkable day.
Trumpβs obsession with the Obamas has never been political. It has always been personal, racial, and ugly.
First, he spent years pushing the racist birther conspiracy against President Obama. Then he shared content depicting the Obamas as apes. Recently, a fighter stood in the White House and referred to Michelle Obama as a man, and the White House said nothing. Now Trump is publicly referring to Barack Obama as a βstupid son of a bitch.β
The pattern is impossible to ignore.
MAGAβs problem has never been that Barack and Michelle Obama failed. Their problem is that the Obamas succeeded. They cannot stand the fact that a brilliant Black man became President of the United States and that a brilliant, accomplished Black woman became one of the most admired First Ladies in American history.
So they resort to what racists have always resorted to: dehumanization.
They question Barack Obamaβs legitimacy. They question Michelle Obamaβs womanhood. They compare them to animals. They mock them. They insult them. They attempt to strip them of the dignity routinely afforded to white public figures.
And then they wonder why people call them racist.
No, this is not about policy disagreements. People disagree about politics every day. This is about a movement that repeatedly reaches for racist tropes whenever the Obamas are involved.
Barack and Michelle Obama will be remembered as historic figures who served this nation with intelligence, grace, and dignity.
The people obsessed with demeaning them are simply revealing themselves as vile, denonic, racist, human refuse.
πΈ First Ladies Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
Four good, professional and dedicated women who served the nation well in their own right.
The Obama Presidential Center is finally opening!
Tune in today on https://t.co/GYkEOK8EuT starting at 11am CT as Michelle and I share what this moment means to us and celebrate with friends, family, and members of the community in Chicago.