Photo credit: Alyssa Pointer, AFP for Getty Images
Former President Barack Obama penned his first op-ed since leaving office, calling for Democrats to pass voting rights legislation.
In a piece for USA Today, Obama wrote:
When I spoke at John Lewis‘ memorial service two years ago, I emphasized a truth John knew better than just about anyone. Our democracy isn’t a given. It isn’t self-executing. We, as citizens, have to nurture and tend it. We have to work at it. And in that task, we have to vigilantly preserve and protect our most basic tool of self-government, which is the right to vote.
At the time, various state legislators across the country had already passed a variety of laws designed to make voting harder. It was an attack on everything John Lewis fought for, and a challenge to our most fundamental democratic freedoms.
Since then, things have only gotten worse.
Obama lamented how the Big Lie from his successor, former President Donald Trump, has “been embraced by a sizable portion of Republican voters” and that “Republican officials and conservative thought leaders who have courageously stood their ground and rejected such anti-democratic efforts have found themselves ostracized, threatened and subjected to primary challenges.”
Obama expressed support for President Joe Biden’s call this week to change the filibuster.
During a speech in Atlanta on Tuesday about voting rights, Biden said, “Today, I’m making it clear: To protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules, whichever way they need to be changed, to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights.”
Obama wrote:
In recent years, the filibuster became a routine way for the Senate minority to to block important progress on issues supported by the majority of voters. But we can’t allow it to be used to block efforts to protect our democracy. That’s why I fully support President Joe Biden’s call to modify Senate rules as necessary to make sure pending voting rights legislation gets called for a vote. And every American who cares about the survival of our most cherished institutions should support the president’s call as well.
