Unpublished

MILWAUKEE — Former President Barack Obama rallied for Democratic candidates in Wisconsin on Friday, rebuking the Republican Party for its health care policies and what he characterized as a propensity for lying.

The Democratic two-term president called out Republican Gov. Scott Walker for airing campaign advertisements promising to protect access to health care for people with pre-existing conditions at the same time his administration is suing the federal government to try to overturn the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which requires insurers to provide those protections.

“Let’s call it what it is,” Obama said of Walker’s claim. “It is a lie.”

Obama spoke in a packed gymnasium at North Division High School contrasting Democratic candidates with their Republican opponents ahead of the Nov. 6 election, where Democrats hope to retain a U.S. Senate seat and defeat Walker for the first time in four tries. To cheers from the crowd of about 3,500, he said all politicians shade the truth, but America has never before seen “politicians just blatantly, repeatedly, baldly, shamelessly lying.”

While it is fairly common for politicians to deploy some measure of spin in order to make a point, Obama said, America has never before seen “politicians just blatantly, repeatedly, baldly, shamelessly lying.”

Obama accused Republicans of failing to follow through on President Donald Trump’s vow to tackle corruption and “drain the swamp.”

“They have racked up enough indictments to field a football team,” Obama said of Trump’s administration and former campaign staff. Several Trump aides have been indicted or convicted on charges related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and other investigations.

Obama added tersely: “Nobody in my administration got indicted.”

Wisconsinites have to vote Democratic in November to ensure the protection of provisions of the Affordable Care Act, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, Obama said. While the election won’t solve everything, he said, “if you vote, things will get better.”

People from near and far turned out to cheer for Obama and other Wisconsin Democrats, including Walker’s opponent Tony Evers and running mate Mandela Barnes, along with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is up for re-election, and various congressional candidates.

Harold Frank, 73, said he drove about three hours from Wabeno to the Milwaukee rally to support Baldwin. He hopes Baldwin will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to overturn or weaken the Affordable Care Act. He, too, said he isn’t buying the about-face from Walker and other Republicans when they say they will protect guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions.

It’s not fair for insurance companies to decide who does and who does not qualify for health insurance, said Frank, a former chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi. But because of the Affordable Care Act, those insurers are compelled to provide care to millions more people.

“It’s the moral thing to do,” he said. “We have to take care of one another.”

Baldwin, with a nod to opinion polls that say health care is a top concern of voters, said during the rally that she would continue to champion the Affordable Care Act, which she watched Obama sign into law in 2010. She recalled her family struggling to find health insurance because of her own serious illness had at age 9.

“I grew up believing that was wrong,” she said.

In July 2017, when the Republicans’ effort to repeal the health care law failed by just one vote in the Senate, it was because of activists who ramped up pressure to leave the law alone, Baldwin said. “You made that moment possible,” she said, going on to praise Wisconsinites who have become politically involved in the face of health-related adversity.

Other rally attendees — including some not old enough to vote — said they felt energized by the importance of defeating  officials who don’t represent their interests.

“I have a lot of friends that are older, so I’m, like, encouraging them to vote,” said 17-year-old Tejean Neal, a senior at Rufus King High School.

One of those friends didn’t vote in the 2016 election and later regretted it, Neal said. “You can’t be mad at the outcome if you didn’t vote, if you didn’t do your part.”

Youth voter turnout historically has been low. But preliminary reports from early voting this year show a substantial increase among voters under 30. In Texas — the site of a contentious Senate race between incumbent Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke — the number of voters between 18 and 29 bracket is up five-fold from the 2014 midterm election.

While waiting in line at the Milwaukee rally, 16-year-old Noah Cotton said he hoped Obama would talk about the power of young people to change the world.

“We have the tools to make a difference in this country,” said Cotton, another Rufus King student, suggesting that his generation is open to a variety of viewpoints. “We have to let our voices be heard.”