**JULY 31, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

Whiplash Day: Obama, Lewis, Trump

****

Yesterday, Barack Obama eulogized John Lewis as the champion of voting
rights, while Donald Trump sought to annul the 2020 election. Whiplash
doesn't begin to describe the experience of viewing Obama extolling
the hero of the Voting Rights Act that has been shredded by Trump and
the Republican courts.

Our only African American president has not been much in evidence during
the Trump years. Watching him again, one was reminded of his intellect,
his commitment to enlarged democracy, his wit, and his decency.

Among recent presidents, Obama is unmatched, as incorruptible, an
exemplary family man, and an idealist calling America to be its best.
Obama is a literal testament to the optimism of John Lewis's life's
work, now being destroyed by Trump.

Obama and Lewis are also reminders of the sheer dignity and daily
persistence of America's African American citizens, in the face of
behaviors that ought to shame their oppressors. How on earth could this
republic have possibly gone, directly no less, from Obama to Trump?

I think the reason is less unrelenting racism (though there is plenty of
that) than corrupted capitalism. After all, America did elect Barack
Obama president, twice.

But for four decades, our system has beaten down working people of all
races. And that set the stage once again for the scapegoating of African
Americans. If we want to resume the trajectory of steady improvement
that Obama invoked and that Lewis lived and nearly died for, enlightened
racial consciousness is surely necessary-but not enough.

We will need an economic system of greater solidarity among working
people of all races and less domination by corrupt capitalists in league
with corrupt politicians. Obama was exemplary in so many ways, and
personally unblemished. But his failure to clean up capitalism helped
seed the ground for a successor determined to expunge his many other
good works.

Assuming a tolerably free election-far from a given-Joe Biden will
face the heavy responsibility of redeeming racial justice, democracy,
and a decent economy. All three are required, or he will fail.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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