(TargetLiberty.org) – Most of the speakers at John Lewis’ funeral dropped their partisan squabbles and just honored the civil rights icon. But not Obama. No, he just couldn’t resist pushing his own political agenda.
The former president used his eulogy for Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) to push for new voting reform and call for an end to the Senate filibuster. He also accused Republicans of using their voter ID laws to force Jim Crow-era restrictions on voting rights.
Obama said the way to honor Lewis was to pass the new version of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, legislation that the civil rights legend was willing to give his life for. This has been on the Democrat wish list since 2013, when the Supreme Court invalidated part of it.
Democrats have named the new version of the law after Lewis. It would restore federal supervision for states when they pass election laws.
Obama Gave Democrats Their Marching Orders
But Barack didn’t stop there. He wants far more. He encouraged Democrats to pass new legislation making voter registration automatic. He also called for making election day a national holiday and granting ex-convicts the right to vote.
Obama called the filibuster a “Jim Crow relic,” and he said it should be ended to allow “the God-given rights of every American.”
He never mentioned President Trump by name, but he compared him to segregationist Gov. George Wallace (D-AL). The former president also went after the police, saying that today’s law enforcement is just like the force who beat peaceful marchers in the 1960s. And, he accused the government of sending troops in to use batons and tear gas on “peaceful demonstrators.”
His Plan to Keep Republicans Out of Office
The ex-president pushed for Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, to get statehood, too, calling them disenfranchised.
Even though residents of DC and Puerto Rico are US citizens, they don’t have the same representation in the US Congress as the other states. DC has a delegate, but doesn’t have any voting representatives. Puerto Ricans can’t vote in national elections.
If Obama got his way and they were granted statehood, both of them would likely elect Democrats to Congress. If they each elected two Democratic senators, it would effectively prevent Republicans from ever holding the majority in the upper chamber again.
It’s a shame that Obama couldn’t rise above his partisan agenda. He could’ve just celebrated John Lewis’ life. But instead, he used the funeral to deliver a Democratic campaign speech.
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