Barack Obama Is Scared

He went on: “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t. And the consequences of that failure are severe. One hundred and 70,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.”

Read Barack Obama’s Eulogy for John Lewis

What was striking about Obama’s argument, however, was how little it was grounded in the traditional policy battles of the last decade. Though he ticked off a rapid-fire summation of the progressive Biden-Harris agenda, Obama did not tell Americans that Trump would take away their health care, or ignore climate change, or deport immigrants, or even threaten national security. His warning was far more existential. If Biden is telling voters that “the soul of America” is on the ballot, Obama told them that its very system of government is at risk. “This administration,” he said, “has shown it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win.”

Nor did Obama conclude his speech with the uplifting peroration that has been his trademark. He summoned the legacy of Lewis and the civil-rights movement, but he withheld his typical reassurance that despite everything, the best of America would win out. “Any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of this election,” he said.

For all of Obama’s reliance on hope and inspiration as a motivator in the past, fear has always worked just as well, if not better, at turning out votes. And as president, he was never as effective at getting people to vote when he was not on the ballot as he was during his two campaigns: Democrats stayed home in both midterm elections during his tenure, and the coalition that elected him was unable to lift Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016. So it would not be a surprise if Obama thought he needed to up the ante to help rally the Democratic base for Biden.

But as Obama railed against the “cynicism” that he said Trump was relying on to win, and then as he recalled the sacrifices of those who were spit on and beaten as they fought for the right to vote, he seemed almost on the verge of tears. It didn’t seem like an act. If the former president hadn’t previously seen the need to tear into Trump for the sake of the country, what were Democrats to make of the fact that, now, apparently he does? Obama, suddenly a gray-haired father figure to his party, no longer sounded merely disappointed—he seemed frightened.

Russell Berman is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers politics.