Obama Defends ObamaCare, Avoids Criticizing Trump

He calls for political 'courage'
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2017 9:10 AM CDT
Obama Defends ObamaCare, Avoids Criticizing Trump
Caroline Kennedy and former President Obama during ceremonies at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Sunday in Boston.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Former President Obama continued his gradual re-emergence into public life with a speech Sunday night that hit two familiar notes: He defended ObamaCare and avoided any direct criticism of President Trump. In picking up a Profile in Courage Award at the John F. Kennedy Library, Obama praised members of Congress who voted in favor of his health care law in 2010 even though it jeopardized their political careers. "I hope that current members of Congress recognize it takes little courage to aid those who are already powerful, already comfortable, already influential—but it takes great courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm," he said, per Axios.

But as coverage in the New York Times and Politico notes, Obama did not explicitly criticize his successor in the White House. Instead, he spoke in broad terms of the need for lawmakers to buck their parties when necessary and do "what they believe deep in their hearts is right," per CNN. He also alluded to "Dreamers," the children of undocumented immigrants he protected from deportation, praising them for pushing "down their fears to keep working and striving in the only country they've ever called home." And he expressed disappointment at the current political climate, where "everywhere, we see the risk of falling into the refuge of tribe and clan ... and anger at those who don't look like us or have the same surnames, or pray like we do." (More Barack Obama stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X