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\n

CHICAGO \u2014 Former President Barack Obama called out divisiveness and polarization as \u201cone of the greatest challenges of our time,\u201d as he avoided any specific political references in his first public remarks since the election.<\/p>\n

In a speech Thursday at his foundation\u2019s Democracy Forum, Obama urged his audience to embrace pluralism and celebrate people\u2019s differences \u2013 the closest he came to a political message in his remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about recognizing that in a democracy, power comes from forging alliances and building coalitions\u2026 not only for the woke, but also for the waking,\u201d Obama told the crowd of about 650 participants at the Obama Foundation event on Chicago\u2019s South Side, just a few miles from where Obama\u2019s presidential center is under construction.<\/p>\n

Obama didn\u2019t utter the names of Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in remarks that ran about 45 minutes, and his nonprofit organization stays away from politics. But Obama\u2019s underlying message about pluralism and building bridges across divides has obvious relevance to the political moment in a divided country.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding bridges is not contrary to equality and social justice. In fact, it is our best tool for delivering lasting change,\u201d Obama told the crowd that included Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett, who worked in his administration and Penny Pritzker, the Commerce secretary during his administration.<\/p>\n

A few folks in the predominantly Democratic crowd of political and policy wonks nodded at Obama\u2019s remarks of extending a hand across the aisle, though most sat stoically as Obama spoke.<\/p>\n

The former president said he understands the \u201cskepticism\u2026 But to produce free and fair and more just societies, I cannot think of a better time to talk about it,\u201d he said of the post-election malaise.<\/p>\n

Obama said there are still lines that can\u2019t be crossed \u2014 such as when the other side uses \u201cthe judiciary or criminal justice system to go after opponents,\u201d he said, hinting at Trump\u2019s threats to go after his enemies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those circumstances, a line has been crossed,and we have to stand firm and speak out and organize and mobilize as forcefully as we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Obama also invoked Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, saying pluralism or trying to work with the other side isn\u2019t about \u201cholding hands and singing kumbaya\u201d or \u201cabandoning your convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former president said, \u201cIf you want to create lasting change, you have to find ways to practice addition rather than subtraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 Former President Barack Obama called out divisiveness and polarization as \u201cone of the greatest challenges of our time,\u201d as he avoided any specific political references in his first public remarks since the election. In a speech Thursday at his foundation\u2019s Democracy Forum, Obama urged his audience to embrace pluralism and celebrate people\u2019s differences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}