The former president has called for decency and honesty. It follows US President Donald Trump’s plan to send several thousand troops to the US border in response to what Trump called a migrant “invasion.”
Former US President Barack Obama urged voters on Friday to vote for “decent” and “honest” politics ahead of the country’s midterm elections.
“You can vote for a politics that is decent, for a politics that is honest, for a politics that is lawful, for a politics that tries to do right by people,” Obama said at a rally in Georgia for Stacey Abrams. The Democrat candidate is hoping to become the country’s first black female governor.
Obama, who also spoke in Florida on Friday, called on voters to turn out for Democrat candidates and denounced efforts by Republicans to dismantle his political legacy.
Tight races
Trump’s party has attempted to use majorities in both houses of Congress to abolish Obama’s signature healthcare law and backtrack his administration’s environmental regulations.
Obama’s public appearances coincided with Trump’s campaign visits to West Virginia and Indiana, where he urged voters to back Republican candidates for the US Senate.
Polling indicates that the Republicans will keep their majority in the Senate, while Democrats will win a majority in the House of Representatives.
Trump’s ‘political stunt’
Trump has tried to stoke up support for the Republicans by taking a hardline stance against a caravan of several thousand migrants heading toward the US border with Mexico.
He has called the caravan an “invasion” and his administration recently authorized a plan to send several thousand troops to the US border.
Speaking in Florida, Obama condemned the plan, accusing the Trump’s administration of “taking our brave troops away from their families for a political stunt at the border.”
amp/bw (AP, Reuters, AFP)