After former President Obama gave a partisan eulogy at John Lewis' funeral on Thursday where he compared President Trump and federal law enforcement to George Wallace and called for the end of the filibuster, among other things, the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart praised him for telling Americans what they can do to honor Lewis and the country.
Capehart praised Obama for, "specifics to the nation about what could be done to not only honor this great man, this great American, and as Jon Meacham has so wonderfully said every time he's been on television, this American saint."
Beyond honoring Lewis, Capehart claimed that if you truly love America, you'll do what Obama wants, "If we are all the things we aspire to be in the words of our constitution and the ideals that we project to the world, then we'll make it easier for people to vote. We will do things to make it easier to pass legislation that helps all of America and not just a slice of America."
He then praised Obama for breaking the tradition of past presidents keeping quiet:
And so I thought, you know, President Obama maybe now that he's no longer president, and because of the tenor and tone of the times that we're in and even though he didn't mention him by name, the person who is in the White House now, it struck me that President Obama felt it was right for him to step out there and say what should be done. Leave aside the reticence we have seen from him the last three years.
Capehart then applauded Obama's remarks on the filibuster, "To go right on out there, I don't know if it was news. I thought it was news when he said to do away with the filibuster, if that's what it will take to bring about progress. That's something I have never heard President Obama say before."
That may be news to Capehart, because Obama wasn't always claiming the filibuster to be a relic of Jim Crow.
He wrapped up his thoughts with one last bit of praise, "it just shows how far he is willing to go to help give concrete marching orders compared to the aspirational marching orders that we got in that final message from Congressman Lewis.”
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Here is a transcript for Capehart's July 30 remarks:
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JONATHAN CAPEHART: And what President Obama did, I thought, was the other book end. Whereas Congressman Lewis' op-ed is here overall is what I think you should do now that I'm gone, President Obama gave specifics to the nation about what could be done to not only honor this great man, this great American, and as Jon Meacham has so wonderfully said every time he's been on television, this American saint. Here is what you can do specifically, substantively, and concretely, to honor this man but to also honor this nation and what we say we are and who we say we are. If we are all the things we aspire to be in the words of our constitution and the ideals that we project to the world, then we'll make it easier for people to vote. We will do things to make it easier to pass legislation that helps all of America and not just a slice of America. And so I thought, you know, President Obama maybe now that he's no longer president, and because of the tenor and tone of the times that we're in and even though he didn't mention him by name, the person who is in the White House now, it struck me that President Obama felt it was right for him to step out there and say what should be done. Leave aside the reticence we have seen from him the last three years. To go right on out there, I don't know if it was news. I thought it was news when he said to do away with the filibuster, if that's what it will take to bring about progress. That's something I have never heard President Obama say before. But also, it just shows how far he is willing to go to help give concrete marching orders compared to the aspirational marching orders that we got in that final message from Congressman Lewis.”
