‘I fell asleep’: Donald Trump, Barack Obama trade barbs as midterms loom

Barack Obama has sensationally broken his silence on Donald Trump, refusing to let him take credit for US economic recovery.

Former President Barack Obama has accused President Trump of “capitalising on resentment” and called on voters to engage in the midterm elections, which he said are “more important than any I can remember in my lifetime.”

“Just a glance at recent headlines should tell you that this moment really is different, the stakes really are higher, the consequences of any of us sitting on the sidelines are more dire,” Mr. Obama said in a speech at the University of Illinois. “This is not normal.”

Mr. Obama bridled at efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to claim credit for the improving economy, saying it was a process begun under his presidency.

“When you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let’s just remember when this recovery started,” he said. “Suddenly Republicans are saying it’s a miracle. I have to remind them those job numbers are the same numbers as 2015 and 2016.”

Until now, Mr. Obama had withheld open criticism of Mr. Trump, keeping to a tradition of former presidents refraining from attacking their successors. In his address, he said he was stepping out “as a fellow citizen, not an ex-president” with a call to action. “I am here to deliver a simple message: You need to vote because our democracy depends on it,” he said.

Speaking at a Republican fundraiser in Fargo, N.D., President Trump said he watched Mr. Obama’s speech earlier in the day, “but I fell asleep.”

“I found that he’s very good, very good for sleeping,” Mr. Trump said, prompting laughs from the crowd. “He was trying to take credit for this incredible thing that’s happening to our country.”

Friday’s speech was the kick-off of a series of midterm campaign events by Mr. Obama, beginning Saturday with a rally in California with seven Democratic candidates in battleground House seats that the party hopes to flip from the GOP.

Mr. Obama is one of the most popular national Democrats, but Republicans say they welcome his return to the political scene, if only to give them another figure that Republicans love to hate.

“For three cycles, President Obama fired up Republicans like nobody and I’m happy if he wants to do it again,” said Rep. Steve Stivers (R., Ohio), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, at a breakfast with reporters Friday.

President Donald Trump speaks during a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Kristi Noem in Sioux Falls.

Mr. Obama also lambasted Republicans for refusing to stand up to Mr. Trump, and ridiculed the message of a recent New York Times op-ed from an anonymous senior administration official that some were working from within to check his more dangerous instincts and policies.

He accused Republicans of “bending over backwards to shield this behaviour from scrutiny.”

Mr. Obama’s months of steering clear of national politics, while frustrating to some activists, was in keeping with the practice of his predecessor. George W. Bush took a big step back from politics after leaving the White House; the first time he stepped back in was in 2016 when he campaigned for his brother, Jeb, for president.

Last year, Mr. Obama campaigned for Democratic candidates for governor of Virginia and of New Jersey, who won their races. He has attended high-end fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee and other party groups, including a new one, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee that is focusing on funding races that will strengthen the party’s hand in redrawing congressional district lines after the 2020 census. Last month, he endorsed 81 Democrats who were running for Congress, governor and other down-ballot posts in the 2018 midterms.

But his California rally is his first on-the-stump campaigning of 2018, starting in a deep blue state that has a clutch of candidates in seven GOP-held districts that are key to Democrats’ hope of winning a House majority. After that he will go to Ohio, a state he won twice, but which Mr. Trump won in 2016.

“It’s truly exciting to welcome President Obama to Southern California,” said Gil Cisneros, one of the House candidates appearing with him at a Saturday rally in Orange County. “I welcome the opportunity to campaign alongside him and energise voters ahead of the final two months of the campaign.”

Mr. Obama will likely steer clear of red states where Mr. Trump is a GOP hero and Democratic senators are struggling for re-election — including some like Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who kept her distance from Mr. Obama when she first ran in 2012.

“Whether Barack Obama is physically there or not, red-state Democrats are going to have to be prepared to defend their votes during President Obama’s tenure,” said David Krone, who was chief of staff to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid during the Obama presidency.

In 2014, the last midterm of Mr. Obama’s presidency, he was considered a political liability to Senate Democrats in battleground states like Arkansas, Louisiana and Alaska. Incumbents were attacked for their record of voting with Mr. Obama, whose approval rating hit a low of 40% in August 2014, according to Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling. Vulnerable Democrats ran away from him, but they still lost, and the GOP gained a majority in the Senate.

Now Mr. Obama is one of the most popular national Democrats in or out of office, with 57% positive rating in the January 2017 Journal/NBC poll. Activists view him as more unifying and inspirational than congressional leaders, Nancy Pelosi in the House and Chuck Schumer in the Senate, or the party’s official chairman, Tom Perez of the Democratic National Committee.

But some Democrats worry that Mr. Obama’s emergence, and his attack on Mr. Trump, will further turn the midterm campaign into a polarised referendum on Mr. Trump instead of about policy.

“President Obama may be feeding that dynamic where it is all about President Trump,” Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) said on CNN.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), responding to Mr. Obama’s speech, said it would remind voters of the problems of the Obama era, such as slower economic growth, and why they rejected Democrat Hillary Clinton as his successor.

“The more former President Obama speaks about the ‘good ol years’ of his presidency, the more likely President Trump is to get re-elected,” Mr. Graham said.

— Wall Street Journal