Political News

Obama warns against 'strongman politics' in speech after Trump news conference

Former US President Barack Obama mounted a passionate defense of democracy and warned against the rise of "strongman politics" in a speech in South Africa one day after his successor, Donald Trump, was heavily criticized for a humiliating news conference with Vladimir Putin.

Posted Updated

By
Angela Dewan, David McKenzie
and
Brent Swails (CNN)
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (CNN) — Former US President Barack Obama mounted a passionate defense of democracy and warned against the rise of "strongman politics" in a speech in South Africa one day after his successor, Donald Trump, was heavily criticized for a humiliating news conference with Vladimir Putin.

In an address Tuesday in honor of the late Nelson Mandela ahead of the 100th anniversary of his birth, Obama criticized populist movements toward authoritarianism around the world and made a plea to his audience to preserve democratic freedoms as the key to peace.

Obama has made an art of criticizing the current President's values without explicitly naming Trump, and on Tuesday peppered his speech with warnings against protectionism and racial nationalism.

"The politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment began to appear. And that kind of politics is now on the move. It's on the move at a pace that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago," he told the crowd of around 15,000 people in Johannesburg.

"I am not being alarmist, I'm simply stating the facts. Look around --- strongman politics are ascendant, suddenly, whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are (maintaining) the form of it, where those in powers seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning."

'Head-spinning and disturbing headlines'

Obama's remarks come a day after Trump's news conference in Helsinki, Finland, in which the US leader sided with Putin over his own country's intelligence agencies on whether Russia interfered in the 2016 US election.

Trump had been expected by some observers to confront Putin over the issue after the US Department of Justice indicted 12 Russians, accused of hacking the Democrat's emails and computer networks to target Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Obama opened his speech reflecting on the "strange and uncertain times" of the world that gave him the opportunity to seek perspective.

"But in the strange and uncertain times that we are in -- and they are strange, and they are uncertain, with each day's news cycles bringing more head spinning and disturbing headlines -- I thought maybe it would be useful to step back for a moment and try to get some perspective, so I hope you'll indulge me," he said, as he launched into his speech.

He warned that the press was under attack, that censorship and state control of media is on the rise and that social media was being used to promote hate, propaganda and conspiracy theories.

"So, on Madiba's 100 birthday, we now stand at a crossroads," he said, using a clan name of affection for Mandela.

He said that there was a choice between two visions of humanity's future that the world must choose between.

"How should we respond? Should we see that wave of hope that we felt with Madiba's release from prison? From the Berlin Wall coming down? Should we see that hope that we had as naïve and misguided?" he asked.

"Let me tell you what I believe. I believe in Nelson Mandela's vision, I believe in a vision shared by Gandhi and King, and Abraham Lincoln, I believe in a vision of equality and justice and freedom and multi-racial democracy built on a pretense that all people are created equal and are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And I believe that a world governed by such principles is possible and that it can achieve more peace and more cooperation in pursuits of a common good. That's what I believe."

Obama speech, the 16th annual Nelson Mandela Lecture, in one of his highest-profile appearances and his first return to Africa since he left office in 2017.

His lecture, titled "Renewing the Mandela legacy and promoting active citizenship in a changing world," tracked the transformation of the world, particularly in terms of race relations and human rights, over the past 100 years. "It is a plain fact that racial discrimination still exists in both the United States and South Africa," he said.

Obama's speech followed remarks by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, formerly a freedom fighter and minister in Mozambique's government.

Machel drew several parallels between Mandela and Obama, portraying them both as modest men as "symbols of victory over adversity."

"As the first African-American president ... Barack Obama stands on the shoulders of giants. He too was influenced by generations of greats who came before him" she said.

"From the humblest of beginnings, they are representatives of the masses and reached to the pinnacle of power and influence. But in doing so they were able to elevate the rights and ambitions of the disenfranchised and the weak. Of young and old, of both men and women, of black and white."

Ramaphosa said South Africans celebrated Obama because he shared similar leadership qualities as Mandela and had the same ability to inspire hope and action.

Mandela died in 2013 at the age of 95. He helped South Africa break the practice of racial segregation and do away with white minority rule.

Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against state-sanctioned racial segregation, he was freed in 1990 and quickly set about working to unite the nation through forgiveness and reconciliation, becoming South Africa's first black president. Obama, who became the US' first black president in 2009, has referred to Mandela as a mentor.

Copyright 2024 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.