TWO OF BARACK OBAMA’S most notable speeches didn’t take place during his presidency, or even during his own campaigns. But both marked a crossroads. During the first — at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston— the nation faced decisions on how to move forward in multiple, deadly wars in a post-9/11 world. The second came last night as the country questions its leader’s management of a pandemic that has sent more than 170,000 Americans to their graves and the economy into a tailspin.
From the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, and flanked by the US Constitution, Obama played both taskmaster and conscience, giving the audience a lesson on American democracy — its roots, how the presidency is intended to uphold it, and the challenges that put its existence at stake.
Obama said the president has “no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”
“Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t,” Obama said. “And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever.”
Leadership, he said, is key. “Our ability to work together to solve big problems like a pandemic depends on a fidelity to facts and science and logic and not just making stuff up,” Obama said, perhaps in reference to Trump’s pandemic era remarks that people could ingest disinfectants to treat the virus.
Obama has long stuck to conventional norms and held back on criticizing his successor, saying in 2016 that he wanted to be “respectful of the office” and give the then-president-elect the opportunity to find his own way. He followed through even with almost daily smears from Trump, until last night, in a speech that seemed almost four years in the making.
Obama said he waited for Trump to show “some interest in taking the job seriously,” but the former reality TV star “never did.”
He contrasted his description of Trump’s presidency with Joe Biden’s actions as his vice president in an effort to show who is capable of leading the country, and who isn’t. That included Biden’s work overseeing the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus package, and an infrastructure investment plan credited for jump-starting the economy during the recession.
Obama went as far as to say that “this president and those in power” are counting on voter cynicism and making it “as hard as possible” to vote.
His short-term solution to the country’s woes — to elect Biden — comes at a time when voters wonder if it’s safe to vote in person, and if their ballot will be properly counted due to Trump-imposed changes to the postal system. “Do not let them take away your democracy. Make a plan right now for how you’re going to get involved and vote,” Obama said.
Obama spoke just before vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, handing off the torch as the first black president to the first woman of color to accept a major party nomination to a national ticket.
SARAH BETANCOURT
FROM COMMONWEALTH
As many communities prepare to launch some form of in-person learning this fall, the state’s teacher unions, who want only remote learning, say the municipalities still have to reckon with them.
Chelsea edges Lynn as the Massachusetts community with the highest infection rate, as young people in their 20s seem to be falling victim to the disease in greater and greater numbers.
A super PAC with ties to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker targets a political newcomer in a Democratic primary for a Governor’s Council position.
The Baker administration mandates flu vaccinations for all Massachusetts students, with exceptions only for medical and religious reasons. (State House News)
Opinion: Lynn Perry Wooten, the president of Simmons University, says colleges need to think beyond this fall….The MBTA’s search for electric multiple unit trains should focus on the basics, according to Matt Robare, Ethan Finlan, and Alon Levy of TransitMatters.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Boston city councilors rejected three of Mayor Marty Walsh’s picks for the Zoning Board of Appeal, an effort led by City Councilor — and would-be mayoral challenger — Michelle Wu. (Boston Globe)
Brookfield zoning board chairman Stephen Comtois, fined $20,000 by the State Ethics Commission for using his position for personal gain in a land deal, says he will appeal. (MassLive)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
A study at Massachusetts General Hospital finds higher levels of the coronavirus in children infected with COVID-19 than in sick adults. (WBUR)
Brockton is now one of 10 “red” communities in Massachusetts, the highest risk category on the state’s COVID-19 assessment map. (The Enterprise)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
The principal opposition leader to Russian president Vladimir Putin has been hospitalized in Siberia following a suspected poisoning. (New York Times)
ELECTIONS
Sen. Kamala Harris becomes the first black woman and first Asian American on a major-party presidential ticket as she’s officially nominated as the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate. (Washington Post)
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren delivers her DNC convention speech from an early childhood classroom in Springfield, where she touts presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plans to revive the economy and fix the childcare system. (MassLive)
The Dorchester Reporter endorses Sen. Ed Markey in his primary contest with Rep. Joe Kennedy. The Globe wonders whether Kennedy’s effort to paint Markey as an out-of-touch Beltway pol is coming too late.
The three candidates vying to represent Holyoke in the State House — David Bartley, Patrick Beaudry, and Patricia Duffy — differ on what should be done about the problems at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. (MassLive)
Most of the Democratic candidates in the Fourth Congressional District race support the initiative petition on the November ballot that seeks to implement a ranked-choice voting system in the state, starting with the 2022 election. (State House News Service)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Revere was booming before the pandemic hit. Can it pick up where it left off? (Boston Globe)
Cuts at the US Post Office appear to be killing live chicks that are sent to farmers through the US mail. (Associated Press)
The Boston Business Journal looks at how marijuana tax revenue has been spent in Massachusetts.
EDUCATION
Teachers unions in the state are pushing for all-remote learning this fall — but have offered little on ways to make that distanced learning work well. (Boston Globe)
The Boston Public Schools have begun asking families whether they want their child to begin the school year under a fully remote or hybrid model. (Boston Globe)
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association will allow some youth sports to begin in late September, but football will be delayed until February. (The Salem News)
Holy Cross officials broke up a large off-campus party, and at least one COVID-19 case has been confirmed and several are possible among attendees. (Telegram & Gazette)
Churches are looking for innovative ways to help students, whether offering space and a tutor for students doing remote learning or providing their wi-fi password in a parking lot. (MassLive)
ARTS/CULTURE
In Netflix’s upcoming film “The Sleepover,” the South Shore has another Hollywood moment. (Patriot Ledger)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
The former president of the Boston police patrol officers’ union, Patrick Rose, Sr., arraigned last week on child rape charges, will face charges of sexually assaulting two additional children, the Boston Herald reports.
A Florida court rules that a video showing New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft paying for sex was obtained illegally. (Associated Press)
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said no one from Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins’s office contacted the DA’s office after an inmate at the county jail died in 2015. (WBUR)
A woman sues the Beverly police chief over a tweet that revealed personal information about a domestic violence victim. (The Salem News)
MEDIA
The editor of the MetroWest Daily News says his paper’s staff is 92 percent white and 8 percent Hispanic/Latino; he pledges to bring the staff into parity with the community it serves (73 percent white, 11 percent Asian, 9 percent Hispanic/Latino, and 6 percent black) by 2025. His pledge is part of a wider effort by the USA Today Network. The Telegram & Gazette, part of the same network, releases statistics about the gender and racial makeup of its own newsroom workforce.
Cape Cod Times executive editor Anne Brennan pledges improved newsroom diversity while mentioning that 96 percent of the paper’s staff is white.
PASSINGS
Dann Fenn, the founding director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, died at age 97. (Boston Globe)