Thread by @ThePlumLineGS

1) Obama's speech is being widely hailed for its brutal takedown of Trump. Obama depicted a moment of extraordinary peril, in which a second Trump term is an existential threat to our democracy.

But I think something else is noteworthy here as well.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

2) Obama tapped a wellspring of urgency that runs even deeper than Trump, if you think about it.

Obama also warned that one of the most dire threats to self rule is the very act of losing sight of the idea that self rule is something worth preserving.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

3) A hallmark of political oratory during moments of extreme national duress is the idea our polity and way of life should survive.

This goes back to Peracles' funeral oration two and a half millennia ago and surfaced in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

4) The core of Obama’s scathing indictment of Trump is that in this regard, the current president is utterly devoid of any concern for, or recognition of, the value of our polity and way of life:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

5) Obama's speech was terrifying in part because he has long argued the USA is fundamentally progressing, despite periods of backlash and reaction. Now he's saying this is in doubt.

As @jonathanchait and @RyanLizza note, this is a real fear on his part:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

@jonathanchait @RyanLizza 6) But his fear runs deeper: It's that *we ourselves* will not attend sufficiently to the notion that our "polity" and "way of life" are worth preserving.

Obama tells us Biden will bring immediate improvements. But he seems to sense we need to hear more:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

7) Anyway, Obama's speech is alarming and riveting on any number of levels.

Yes, Trump represents an existential threat. But the threat also resides in ourselves. That's what he's telling us. And he's right.

Full argument here:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…