Obama’s comments appear in a new video supporting Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50 which would allow the California legislature to draw new congressional boundaries ahead of the midterms

Barack Obama has entered the political fray ahead of November’s special election in California, accusing Republicans of attempting to “rig the next election” in a new ad backing Governor Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50, a ballot measure that could reshape the state’s congressional map.

“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama says in the 30-second ad, urging voters to approve the proposal. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.”

  • TipsyMcGee@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    All this astrofurfing and campaigning for Newsom is just a proactive effort to preempt any radical voices from gaining traction from the anti-Trump momentum. That’s the top of their agenda right now, institutional integrity and democracy is at best second.

    • Pup Biru@aussie.zone
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      15 hours ago

      this has little to do with campaigning for newsom… it’s about supporting the counter to republican gerrymandering

      you might be right in general, but this is not that context

    • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      This is a great example of “the left” being manipulated to turn on itself. Newsom ain’t great but he is better than anything my former party Republicans put forth. If he makes it through the primaries, please for the love of Satan vote for him in the general. If Republicans win again it’s completely over. If I were still one I’d be completely OK with so many worse things happening. Be more scared of what is yet to come than a groveling centrist like Newsom.

      • 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it
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        12 hours ago

        Newsom, the Zionist guy who likes destroying homeless people’s encampements for PR ain’t “great”. That’s quite an understatement.

      • Michael@slrpnk.net
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        18 hours ago

        This is a great example of “the left” being manipulated to turn on itself.

        Yeah, Obama is dividing the left with another power play. People don’t want Newsom for a number of reasons. People want to vote for an actual leader who has principles.

        • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          Vote for him in the general regardless. Why is this so hard? Vote in the primary and show up in the general. Our voting system is so simple.

          • Michael@slrpnk.net
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            17 hours ago

            I couldn’t vote for Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primary because of Obama’s power play. Convincing effectively all candidates to drop out and endorse Biden was election interference.

            Our voting system is already rigged and the person warning that Republicans are rigging the next election is responsible, in part.

          • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
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            15 hours ago

            Nah, that just encourages them to ratfuck progressives. I am not voting for Newsom in the general.

      • EldenLord@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        You both can be right with these seemingly opposed stances. Doesn‘t matter actually, all that matters is that the left is divided and the right isn‘t. That‘s all it takes for evil to win.

        Change that!

        • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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          19 hours ago

          This is my point reiterated. I don’t like newsom either, but i would vote for him 1x10^100 if he were the candidate in the general. The “he is being normalized” shit is why the left loses all the time. Complain about him, but don’t assume enough centrists wont vote for him in the primaries for him to be the general candidate. I’m tired of people not voting, then bitching about the current administration.

        • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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          19 hours ago

          And? Of course they are going to do this shit. Good people don’t rise against great evil, sort of evil people use it to slither into power.

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
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        13 hours ago

        Newsom would be Trump if he lived in Texas. If he is the Democratic nominee in 2028 then I personally am giving up on politics. I’ve been fighting for a better Democratic party for 40 years, and after all that they are worse than the Republicans were when I started. No, fuck that. Newsom would be the last straw for me. If he gets the nomination, there is no saving the country anyways.

        • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          If I see you headed on a train to the camps I’ll make sure go give you a thumbs up while you roll by. Giving up is pathetic. Go dig your grave and don’t complain when they come for you.

          • Tinidril@midwest.social
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            13 hours ago

            Has 40 years of supporting corrupt Democrats saved us from the camps? It sure doesn’t look like it to me. Camps are proceeding right on schedule. That’s the whole point. At best the camps get put on hold for four years. At worst, they get diversity quotas for the guards.

              • Tinidril@midwest.social
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                3 hours ago

                Also, to be clear, Newsom would be the worst scenario with diversified guards. If you want a four year pause, nominate Pritzker. If you want to take the country back, don’t settle for the first personality MSNBC jiggles in front of your face three years out from the election.

                I remember all the uninformed Democratic normie voters creaming themselves over Andrew Cuomo’s Covid press conferences where he beat up Trump’s response constantly. I kept hearing he could be the one for 2020 until he disgraced himself. Now He’s allied with Trump and Trump’s Donors, and we can’t even get Schumer and Jeffries to support his Democratic opponent. And you think these people fight for you?

                Cuomo is Trump in a different package. More than for any other name being thrown around for 2028, so is Newsom. He’s a chameleon and a political opportunist. The only thing he hates about Trump is that he wants Trump’s chair.

                • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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                  3 hours ago

                  I will probably go Pritzker in the primary. But again, I’m not dumb enough not to fall in line during the general. I’ve been doing it since Hillary and regret not voting for Obama both times while I was still a registered republican. All choices on the dem ballot are better than a republican.

                  • Tinidril@midwest.social
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                    1 hour ago

                    I did vote for Obama, through I was a Limbaugh fan in the Bill Clinton era. <shudder> Maybe I’ve just had more time to get sick of it than you.

                    The bigger point is this. We are still three years out from the election and you have limited time for advocacy. Why on earth do you think the best use of your time is to sell lefties on inadequate Democratic representation that might not even get the nomination?

                    This is the time to either fight Trump, or fight for stronger Democrats in the next election. If Newsom (or Pritzker) gets the nomination then do what you must, but why argue it now? First of all, it just makes the cocktail liberals more smug and less likely to look for someone better, and it makes leftists more frustrated and more likely to defect in the general. This is the gap when the left is supposed to be “allowed” to challenge the establishment. Why make them feel even more rejected by the party? You think you’re helping?

              • Tinidril@midwest.social
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                12 hours ago

                Are you honestly telling me that you expect Newsom would roll back more than some cosmetic fringes of Trump’s immigration policy? Biden sure didn’t. You think Newsom is going to roll back Palentir and the surveillance state? Not a chance in hell.

                • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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                  3 hours ago

                  Will trump or the next republican do any of this either? You’re asking the stupidest question when the answer is staring you in the face.

      • Michael@slrpnk.net
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        18 hours ago

        would have any chance in hell of winning

        …why do you believe that? Kamala was the opposite of radical and lost horribly to Trump.

        If anything, it’s worth trying to run on something progressive or otherwise substantive, since running on status quo policies doesn’t seem to be working.

        • zenitsu@sh.itjust.works
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          8 hours ago

          Kamala was the opposite of radical

          She wasn’t portrayed/perceived that way at all, you understand that right? You and everyone else with some political awareness might think that, but the magats and even a shitload of “centrists” (quotes because most have been captured by the magats without being aware) think she was radical.

          …why do you believe that?

          E.g. Bernie. The most milquetoast “radical” tested

          America only has an appetite for far right radicals atm, clearly.

          • Michael@slrpnk.net
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            9 hours ago

            She wasn’t portrayed that way at all, you understand that right?

            Everybody knows that those on the far-right drip are trained to think everybody to the left of them (even a little bit) is a radical.

            Liberal mainstream media did not portray her that way at all.

            even a shitload of “centrists” (quotes because most have been captured by the magats without being aware) think she was radical.

            You’re likely referring to old-school Republicans/conservatives, and they either didn’t vote (because they are disenfranchised) or voted Trump, yes. Some may have voted Kamala, but not as much as she might have hoped (given her strategy to shift right).

            A significant amount of people don’t vote in this country and the Democrats aren’t interested in capturing that demographic, nor are they interested in capturing progressive or leftist voters.

            …and because they aren’t trying to appeal to anyone besides people who absolutely cannot abide by Trump, they lost and will likely continue to lose in the big elections if they don’t run on something to attract voters.

            E.g. Bernie.

            Who never got a chance in a general election because he got ratfucked 2x in a row by the Democratic Party et. al.

            The most milquetoast “radical” tested

            Bernie is the lesser evil here - he’s milquetoast, but not as milquetoast as e.g. Kamala, Biden, and Obama are to their corporate donors.

            Bernie was a good sport, but he has principles he stands by and that’s more than those folks could say now.

            • zenitsu@sh.itjust.works
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              8 hours ago

              Who never got a chance in a general election because he got ratfucked 2x in a row by the Democratic Party et. al.

              This is just major debunked cope. People seem to forget, but when Trump ran for the first time, the whole “establishment” hated him, both left and right. Hell, even the heritage foundation didn’t want him. Until he got too big to ignore, he won through sheer brute force popularity. Bernie just lost the primaries to Hillary…if you think America has any capability right now to see anyone to the left of Bernie in power, you’re just delusional.

              Current America would rather take an old bumbling corrupt criminal rapist(pedo too?) brainlet instead of a qualified intelligent prosecutor/AG because a woman of colour is a bit too much. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your niche is anywhere near the norm.