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Former President Barack Obama recently gave a speech in which he attacked the critics of identity politics.

At the June Copenhagen Democracy Summit Obama said: I have little sympathy for reactionaries who cynically condemn identity politics or cancel culture when really all theyre doing is trying to preserve existing privilege or excuse entrenched injustice, or bigotry. I mean, the original identity politics is racism and sexism and homophobia. Thats nothing if not identity politics, and its done a lot more harm than some tweet from an aggrieved liberal.

Reactionaries?

Yes, that would be the same Obama who burst on the national scene by giving a rafter-ringing keynote speech at the Boston 2004 DNC convention where he denounced identity politics. Then-Illinois state Sen. Obama said: There are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, theres not a liberal America and a conservative America theres the United States of America. Theres not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; theres the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red states and blue states; red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats. But Ive got news for them, too. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

Days before he announced his race to become a Democratic nominee for president in 2008, Obama gave his first 60 Minutes interview:

60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft: You think the countrys ready for a black president?

Obama: Yes.

Kroft: You dont think its going to hold you back?

Obama: No. I think if I dont win this race, it will be because of other factors. Its going to be because I have not shown to the American people a vision for where the country needs to go that they can embrace.

At a 2007 speech at Brown Chapel AME church, presidential candidate Obama talked about the black struggle, how much had been achieved and what remained: The previous generation, the Moses generation, pointed the way. They took us 90% of the way there. But we still got that 10% in order to cross over to the other side.

This is the Obama the American people assumed they had hired in November 2008. Hopeful, positive, a liberal Democrat, to be sure, but a black man who could serve, at the very least, as a racial reconciler, keenly aware of how far America has come. When he entered the Oval Office the third week of January 2009, his approval rating approached 70%. A January 2009 ABC News poll found that 58% thought race relations would improve under Obama.

But by October 2016, one month before the presidential election, a CNN/ORC poll found 54% thought race relations worsened under Obama, including 40% of blacks and 57% of whites.

Obama, as president, peddled with little evidence an ever-growing list of race grievances. The list included the Cambridge police acted stupidly; racism is still part of our DNA thats passed on; if I had a son, hed look like Trayvon (Martin); holding up Ferguson as a microcosm of racial strife in America; inviting race-hustling incendiary the Rev. Al Sharpton to the White House over 70 times; and embracing the Black Lives Matter movement, an activist organization based on the false narrative of police systemic racism against blacks.

Obama rarely missed an opportunity to be the conciliator Americans thought him to be. He knows that racism has never been a less significant factor as an obstacle to American success. His very election and re-election stand as a testament to that truth.

Obama won the presidency based on a lie. He entered the presidency as an articulate, even-tempered racial unifier and left as an articulate, even-tempered racial incendiary. Today, he plays the race card from his $12 million bunker in Marthas Vineyard.

Larry Elder is a best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an Elderado, visit LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder.

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Barack Obama plays the race card from his $12 million estate

Former President Obama said on Friday that he is shocked and saddened by the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in Japans history, was shot and killed while campaigning for his political party in the city of Kyoto. Police have arrested a suspect.

I am shocked and saddened by the assassination of my friend and longtime partner Shinzo Abe in Japan, Obama wrote in a statement. Former Prime Minister Abe was devoted to both the country he served and the extraordinary alliance between the United States and Japan.

I will always remember the work we did to strengthen our alliance, the moving experience of traveling to Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor together, and the grace he and his wife Akie Abe showed to me and Michelle, wrote Obama of Abe, adding: Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the people of Japan who are very much in our thoughts at this painful moment.

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Obama shocked and saddened by Abe assassination - The Hill

Local Lunchbox, a nutrition program that uses U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding to pay local chefs and caterers to cook healthy breakfasts and lunches for eligible children and teenagers launched this month with help from the Obama Foundation.

"It's an amazing program," said Erica S. Hubbard, the Obama Foundation's director of Chicago programs, in an interview.

The Chicago program was created in partnership with the Shah Family Foundation, the nonprofit that originated Local Lunchbox in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 2020. Hubbard said the goal in Chicago is to provide more than 100,000 meals this summer through community partners like Gary Comer College Prep, 7131 S. South Chicago Ave., and the South Side YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave. My Block, My Hood, My City is also a partner and delivers food to recipients.

The program has gotten more than $1 million in funding from USDA. So far, around 2,500 kids are getting fed.

The program is currently in the pilot phase, and the Obama Foundation plans to extend it into the fall, perhaps targeting organizations that do fall after-school programming.

The Obama Foundation hosts a free community event with Chicago-based Community Organizations, youth, parents, mentors and other key stakeholders to celebrate the launch of the Local Lunchbox Chicago pilot program at at Overton Elementary School, 221 E. 49th, July 7.

"Everyone's wishful thinking is to expand this to where our partners are able to do this on their own," Hubbard said. "We're not there yet. I think there's a lot of learning this summer. We know this is a great program. It's a great thing to be able to share these delicious and healthy meals and provide those for these kids, but we're still talking with other partners and getting other stakeholders, bringing them to the table. This is the first time this program has been to Chicago, so obviously there's going to be some initial hesitation."

The Massachusetts Local Lunchbox program has already distributed more than 5 million meals, and Hubbard is likewise confident that the program in Chicago will find similar success. More information is online at locallunchbox.org/chi.

herald@hpherald.com

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Obama Foundation launches 'Local Lunchbox' program in Chicago, feeding thousands of kids and teens - Hyde Park Herald

Colman Domingo says his younger brother gave him the best compliment about his new autobiographical animated short, New Moon.

He was overcome, Domingo tells me on this weeks episode of the Just for Variety podcast. He said, More than anything, you brought the feeling of mom back.

New Moon tells the story of a little boy who is shown how to dream by his hardworking single mom. It is based on Domingos play A Boy and His Soul.

Domingo is the voice of the narrator as well as the mother. My siblings say I have my moms voice down pat, he says. Theyre like, You sound just like mommy.

The film will screen during Outfest on July 16 in Los Angeles.

New Moon is written by Domingo and his husband and producing partner Ral Domingo. Ral co-directed with Jrmie Balais and Jeff Leffig. When the couple first made the film, they didnt know what to do with it. It was people like Ava DuVernay, Lee Daniels and Matthew Cherry who suggested they submit it to film festivals. Theyre hoping to adapt it as a television series.

I talked to Domingo just hours after he received his first Emmy nomination for his work as Ali on Euphoria. I did something that shocked me I actually started crying, Domingo says of learning he was nominated. This felt different because I know what the character represents to many people. It sounds strange, but I wanted it for all that he represents and the language that Sam [Levinson] gives me and what hes doing in the television space, which I think is a breakthrough. And this character, this Black guy whos an addict and hes trying to do some good in the world I want that to be amplified.

After our interview, Domingo was heading to his last day of shooting the Oprah Winfrey-produced The Color Purple movie musical in Atlanta. He plays Mister in the big screen adaptation of the Tony-winning stage show. The cast also includes Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia, Danielle Brooks, H.E.R., Ciara, Halle Bailey, Aunjanue Ellis and Corey Hawkins.

He recalled seeing Winfrey on set during the early days of shooting, when they were filming the final scene. Oprah was there, and she actually stood under this tree, this big, beautiful, great Oak tree, Domingo says. Oprah couldnt help herself. She came to set, and she was in the video village and all, but then at some point she was literally right under the tree. So when the camera is going around to all of us, were literally singing at Oprah. Shes so moved and shes singing with us the finale Color Purple song. So, when everyone sees our eyes in the camera going around, were actually looking at Oprah!

Also in the can is Rustin, the George C. Wolfe-directed biopic about Bayard Rustin, the late gay civil rights leader who played a crucial role in elevating Martin Luther King Jr. to national leadership. Domingo plays Rustin in his first headlining feature role.

The film is the first narrative feature produced by Barack and Michelle Obama and their production company Higher Ground. The former first couple talked with the cast over Zoom a couple of months ago. I happened to be in Cabo for a little vacationThey just wanted to connect with the whole cast, and we just talked, Domingo remembers. Anytime you hear Barack Obama saying your name, its the weirdest thing. Hed say, Oh yeah, Colman. Youre like, Oh my god, he said [my name]. You fan out, but then youre like, let me stay focused. Theyre wonderful, theyre huge champions of this film.

You can hear the full interview with Domingo above. You can also listen to Just for Variety wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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Euphoria Star Colman Domingo on Singing for Oprah Winfrey and Zooming With the Obamas - Variety

President Bidens approval rating is hovering under forty-percent, raising concerns over how the numbers will impact the performance of Democrats this fall. FiveThirtyEight has tracked President Bidens approval rating at 38.4 percent, just under the level of support for Donald Trump had when he left office.

Donald Trump has yet to announce his candidacy but if reports are correct, and he does plan to run again, we could see the two face off again in 2024. Many Republicans running across the country have incorporated the idea that 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. In a recent poll by Quinnipiac University, only fifteen percent of voters said that this would make them more likely to vote for a candidate. More than third of respondents said that this would have no impact on their decision to vote for a candidate, which is a bit shocking.

It could be that the approval rating of the president is falling because of the high levels of economic uncertainty. The same Quinnipiac poll found that only thirty-six percent of respondents believed that the president had a lot of power to control inflation. Interestingly sixty-five percent of Republicans were on this opinion, whereas only ten percent of Democrats agreed that the president has the power to lower prices.

It is important to note that low approval does not necessarily equal poor electoral performance.

Just because someone does not approve of the job a leader is doing does not mean that they would not vote for them. The conversation on polling tends to conflate these two types of questions.

Congress after all, has an approval rating of just sixteen percent, yet ninety-three percent of Congressional incumbents were reelected in 2020. Does this mean that voters approve of their own Congressperson, but dislike others? No, not necessarily. It could be that people vote based on the options they have and that because special interests and dark money groups have such an outsized influence in electing certain candidates, Congress does not always act to support the needs of the people.

Similarly, with regard to the president --a low approval rating for Joe Biden now does not mean that voters wont turn out in 2024should he chose to run again.

When former-President Trump left office, his disapproval rate stood at fifty-seven percent, with 38.6 percent of the public supporting him. The highest approval rating Trump had while in office was in April 2020 which could relate to his handling of the pandemic in its earliest phase. In April, Congress passed the CARES Act which distributed the first round of stimulus checks and bolstered unemployment benefits for the more than twenty-million workers who lost their jobs.

However, a few short months later, Donald Trumps approval rating took a nose dive to its lowest point in his presidency as he left office --in part as a result of the events on January 6th.

When former-president Obama was elected, he entered office with a historic approval rating of sixty-four percent. However, with the impacts of the financial crisis led this level of support to began to fall. Aside from a few peaks in popularity, the majority of Obamas term, the disapproval rate was above fifty percent. However, unlike Donald Trump, he left office with a net positive approval rate.

George W. Bush, the first president to be elected in the twenty first century did so by losing the popular vote but winning electoral college. This impacted his approval rating when he entered the White House as some were not so convinced by the legitimacy of his election. Bush began his first term with an approval rating of forty-six percent. However, after the 9/11 attacks, his approval rate skyrocketed to over eighty percent. These numbers gave him quite a cushion for his remaining years in office. However after the economic crisis his approval rating did fall under fifty percent, only to increase slightly before leaving office.

Link:
What are the lowest approval ratings of recent US presidents? Biden, Trump, Obama, Bush - AS USA