This thread connects up in an interesting way with something I picked up on in the speech last night.
In the past, Obama has often chided young activists for going about things the wrong way, or trying to do too much, or not understanding how change is made. There was none of that in his speech last night.
Last night's speech was an "all hands on deck" moment, but as Sargent suggests, it also carried an implicit acknowledgment that Obama's own assessment of the arc of American history has in the past tended toward complacency.
At this moment, the dangers of trying to do too much are utterly eclipsed by the dangers of not trying to do enough, and that fact struck me as a prominent theme in the speech.
Some folks are skeptical of the idea that there's a shift here. But remember that even in his farewell address in 2017 he urged his supporters to seek "common ground and compromise" with Republicans. There was no echo of that in last night's speech.
Obama has always emphasized the importance of reaching out to your adversaries with goodwill and generosity, but last night he described the Republican Party as an existential threat to American democracy. That's new.
