Former First Lady Michelle Obama.Photo: Jim Bennett/Getty
In a series of tweets published one day beforeGeorgia’s Senate run-off election, former First LadyMichelle Obamaurged voters to turn out, saying a vote for the Democratic candidates would be “another step toward cleaning up the mess of the past four years.”
The eight-tweet-long thread offered a strongly-worded rebuke of bothDonald Trumpand the Republican Party in general, which Obama said had amplified the president’s false claims about election fraud while ignoring the ongoingcoronaviruspandemic.
“Your vote is your voice. It’s your power. And right now, from the President of the United States on down, we’re seeing and hearing just how desperate some are to take that power away,” Obama wrote. “They want us to believe that their pride is more important than our democracy.”
She continued: “And this is just unconscionable at a time when a staggering number of Americans are dying every day from a virus that was downplayed for far too long. It’s unconscionable to focus on overturning an election rather than helping struggling families or distributing a vaccine.”
Voting in Tuesday’s Senate runoff, Obama argued, was just as important as voting in the November presidential election because the winners will ultimately determine which party has control of the Senate once President-electJoe Bidentakes office.
“These runoffs will decide whether President-Elect Biden has a Senate that will work with him rather than just obstruct him at every turn,” Obama continued.
A win for Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, said Obama, would be “another step toward cleaning up the mess of the past four years” and would “send a message to any politician who puts themselves and their ambition above our system of self-government.”
“Because in America, everyone’s voice matters,” Obama said, to close her thread. “And that’s still the truth, no matter what some folks want you to believe.”
Last week, arobocall and radio advoicing support for Warnock featuring Obama’s voice went out in Georgia.
Obama’s husband, former PresidentBarack Obama, has also weighed in on the Senate runoffs.
“Tomorrow is Election Day in Georgia and the stakes could not be higher,” the former president wrote onTwitteron Monday afternoon. “We’re seeing how far some will go to retain power and threaten the fundamental principles of our democracy. But our democracy isn’t about any individual, even a president — it’s about you.”
A source close to the former president toldThe New York Timesthat Mr. Obama’s statement came in direct response to a recording released Sunday in which Trumpcan be heard pressuringGeorgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” him votes, in an effort overturn the results of November’s election in the state.
Both the former first lady and president were active in the run-up to the November presidential election, voicing their support for former Vice President Biden, as well as their staunch opposition to Trump.
In a speech aired as part of the virtualDemocratic National Conventionin August, Mrs. Obama said Trump was “the wrong president for our country.”
“He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job but he is clearly in over his head,” she said. “He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.”
source: people.com
