2026-10-25T15:45:25.823Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
二十年前，巴拉克·奥巴马曾在摇摆州激烈抨击共和党总统，指责他发动了极不受欢迎的战争，以及一场让美国工薪阶层不堪重负的经济危机。
他如今故技重施。不过，与小布什时期的批评相比，他此次的指责更为尖锐、更具轻蔑之意，也更显紧迫。他试图推动民主党中期选举候选人胜出，最终挫败宿敌唐纳德·特朗普的政治势头。
这位前总统周六转战俄亥俄州和密歇根州——两人都曾两次拿下这两个州，最终入主白宫——而特朗普最新的中期选举造势地点则在佐治亚州，预计奥巴马下周也将前往那里。
这是一个难得的机会，让人们得以见证，过去二十年间定义美国政治的两大运动领袖，同时祭出他们赢得总统大选的政治看家本领，为各自政党充当最具号召力的形象代言人。
奥巴马再次扮演希望信使的角色，恳求选民理解他们有能力在“动荡时期”创造变革，不过这一标志性的品牌形象已被特朗普的两个任期蒙上了阴影。
“经历了10年的混乱、残酷、腐败、无能、荒唐与胡言乱语——这是这个国家至少在现代历史上从未见过的——你们有权说‘够了’，”奥巴马在底特律说道。
特朗普因支持率低迷以及伊朗战争、生活成本危机引发的公众不满而处境不佳，他则描绘了一幅美国从未如此繁荣的另类愿景。“我们正处于美国的黄金时代，”他周六表示。
但他对这位民主党前总统的执着丝毫未减。周日早些时候，在计划前往密歇根州参加自己的集会时，特朗普在Truth Social平台上发帖称：“奥巴马是一位极其无能的总统！”
奥巴马与特朗普为何不可分割地交织在一起
周六两人的造势活动针锋相对，凸显出特朗普与奥巴马这对互怀刻骨蔑视的截然相反人物，在美国历史动荡时刻的政治纠缠。
奥巴马的运动建立在这样的论点之上：红州与蓝州有着共同的愿景，即拥抱一个种族更多元、更乐观、更具包容性的国家。这一愿景在他的联盟中引发共鸣，这个联盟由受过大学教育的选民、少数族裔、城市及郊区自由派人士组成。
但特朗普也组建了自己的联盟，成员担心国家的传统文化受到社会变革与日益多元化的威胁。他争取到了农村地区、未上过大学的选民，以及对奥巴马所代表的经济全球化感到不满的美国工人阶级。
两人都源自真实的美国根基。第44任总统象征着启蒙运动的理念：社会通过理性、科学、政治制度与多元主义进步。第45任和第47任总统则主张民族主义，对精英科学团体持怀疑态度；他将自身权力置于旨在提供政治约束的制度之上。
奥巴马与特朗普的冲突远不止是希望对抗恐惧、变革对抗倒退。它体现了对正宗美国主义的不同诠释，而这两种诠释在21世纪初都未占据主导地位。
奥巴马对特朗普的激烈抨击登上了头条，但并未阻止其继任者赢得两次总统任期。
民主党人必须自问：为什么一位离职近十年、将白宫交给了一个否定他所有理念的人，至今仍是本党最犀利、最受欢迎的发言人？当奥巴马在“10年”之后表示是时候变革时，仿佛他自己的副总统乔·拜登的总统任期从未发生过。
至少，中期选举让一些更年轻的民主党“有话语权、有信念的领导人”获得了关注，这些人或许能为该党吸引更多选民，比如佐治亚州参议员乔恩·奥索夫和德克萨斯州参议院候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科。
共和党也需要改革，而特朗普不仅支持率低迷，且任期有限。但民主党人发现，用一位有号召力的运动领袖替代其他领导人是何等困难，这位领袖有时难以将他的独特魅力传递给能力稍逊的政客。2028年的两张开放总统候选人名单，或许会开启一个新时代，让国家从奥巴马主义与特朗普主义的永恒对抗中向前迈进。
奥巴马似乎也暗示了这一点：“我做这件事已经很久了，”他在密歇根州说。“有些人可能会说我做得太久了，”他补充道，妻子米歇尔还跟他说：“老头子，坐下吧！”
不过，这位前总统仍保持着以往的风格，推出了他的经典口号，比如“别喝倒彩，去投票”和“我也爱你们”——这些口号让人想起他的活动曾如何在支持者中凝聚起共同目标感，正如特朗普的“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）集会在他整个政治生涯中所做的那样。
在密歇根州，奥巴马将特朗普对民主党候选人阿卜杜勒·埃勒-赛义德的抨击，与这位总统质疑其美国公民身份的种族主义运动联系起来。
共和党人指责埃勒-赛义德支持在埃及成立的伊斯兰团体穆斯林兄弟会，他对此予以否认。而奥巴马作为总统曾前往埃及发表旨在促进美国与穆斯林世界和解的演讲，这一具有讽刺意味的事实并未被提及。
奥巴马周六展现了他在竞选道路上简化政治赌注的超能力。在嘲笑总统的同时——他调侃特朗普的翻修“让白宫看起来像萨达姆·侯赛因开了一家芝士蛋糕工厂”——他辩称选民可以实现美国需要的变革。
“现任总统做出了一系列错误决定，”奥巴马指出汽油和柴油价格以及抵押贷款利率的飙升。“他决定发动一场没人要求、没人投票支持的不必要战争。”
“如果你们之前觉得什么都太贵了，猜猜怎么着？现在所有东西都更贵了，”奥巴马说。
这种将战争与经济信息结合的方式，让人想起这位前总统2008年的论点，当时他抨击像伊拉克战争这样的“愚蠢”战争，以及让美国人“开不起车、还不起信用卡账单、负担不起学费”的经济状况。
当时，他指责“华盛顿的政治失灵”和共和党总统（布什）的“失败政策”。为了应对更为极端的时期，他的信息变得更加鲜明。
但更深层次的情况还在发生。特朗普的批评者认为，他的总统任期是对首位黑人总统的文化反弹。而特朗普在伊朗、医疗保健及其他领域的许多政策，似乎都来自他对首位总统前任的蔑视。
因此，当奥巴马对他的听众说“无论你走到哪里，都能感觉到变革的气息”时，他不仅仅是指中期选举；他是在重申支撑他政治身份与遗产的信念：普通美国人联合起来，可以从底层推翻根深蒂固的势力，实现政治变革。
奥巴马似乎一如既往，在这位总统前往佐治亚州为陷入困境的共和党参议员候选人迈克·柯林斯造势的整个过程中，一直萦绕在他的心头。
特朗普通过自己对两人集会规模的判断，来衡量他们相对的政治号召力。“我看到巴拉克·侯赛因·奥巴马在密歇根州。而那个地方空无一人，”他对这位前总统的集会 turnout 做出了主观评价。
两位对手还围绕伊朗问题进行了隔空交锋，奥巴马称他与伊朗达成的冻结核计划协议意味着他无需发动战争，而特朗普则声称这是该国获得核武器的途径。
这位总统因持续竞选导致嗓子沙哑，宣布德国汽车制造商奥迪将在佐治亚州梅肯新建一座工厂生产SUV，他表示这家工厂每年将生产20万辆汽车，创造3万个就业岗位，引发了热烈人群高呼“特朗普！特朗普！特朗普！”的口号。
尽管民意调查显示多数美国人不赞成特朗普对经济的处理方式，但他辩称自己让国家更繁荣、降低了贫困率、推动了制造业发展，并吸引了数万亿美元的境外投资。“还记得巴拉克·侯赛因·奥巴马曾说过不会有制造业回来了吗？”特朗普对他的听众说，显然是指这位前总统2016年称需要“魔法棒”才能让就业岗位回归的言论。
特朗普正在触及奥巴马遗产的一个薄弱环节——这个环节催化了他自己的政治崛起——即2016年许多传统民主党蓝领铁锈带选民认为自己不再被重视或尊重的想法。
奥巴马登上政治舞台二十年后，以及特朗普以意外当选威胁奥巴马所有理念十年后，这些势均力敌的政治对手仍然是各自政党的主导政治人物。
但中期选举——可能是他们最后几场战斗之一——或许会开始为一个新的政治时代回答一个问题：21世纪第二个25年，两个政党是否能产生一位如此有效捕捉政治时代精神的继承者？
Obama and Trump wage one last battle for even more urgent stakes
2026-10-25T15:45:25.823Z / CNN
Two decades ago, Barack Obama stormed battleground states rebuking a Republican president over a deeply unpopular war and an economy that was crushing working Americans.
He’s at it again. But his updated critique is more searing, contemptuous and urgent than during the George W. Bush era as he tries to push Democratic midterms candidates over the line to finally thwart the political momentum of his nemesis Donald Trump.
The ex-president’s swing Saturday through Ohio and Michigan — states both men won twice en route to the White House — coincided with Trump’s latest midterm stop in Georgia, where Obama is expected next week.
It was a rare chance to see the leaders whose political movements have defined the last 20 years in US politics and who remain their party’s most visible figureheads brandishing their presidency-winning skills at the same time.
Once again, Obama is manifesting as a messenger of hope, beseeching voters to understand they have the power to create change “in unsettling times,” though that signature brand’s assumptions have been sullied by two Trump terms.
“After 10 years of chaos, and cruelty, and corruption, and incompetence, tomfoolery, nonsense, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times at least, you get to say ‘enough is enough,’” Obama said in Detroit.
Trump, saddled with low approval ratings and public anger over the Iran war and the cost-of-living crisis, conjured an alternative vision of a nation that’s never been more prosperous. “We’re in the golden age of America,” he said Saturday.
But his fixation on the Democratic former president is undimmed. Early Sunday, when he was scheduled to head to his own rally in Michigan, Trump wrote on Truth social: “Obama was a grossly incompetent President!”
How Obama and Trump are irrevocably intertwined
Saturday’s dueling appearances underscored how Trump and Obama — polar opposites who regard one another with deep contempt — are politically entwined at a turbulent moment of American history.
Obama built his movement on the argument that red states and blue states shared unifying aspirations of embracing a more racially diverse, optimistic and inclusive nation. This vision resonated among his coalition of college-educated, minority, urban and suburban liberal voters.
But Trump built his own coalition among others who fear the country’s traditional culture is threatened by social change and increasing diversity. He enlisted rural, non-college voters and working-class Americans disaffected by the economic globalism they believe Obama represents.
Each springs from true American roots. The 44th president epitomizes the Enlightenment idea that society advances through reason, science, political institutions and pluralism. The 45th and 47th president advocates nationalism and skepticism of elite scientific communities; he prioritizes his own power over institutions set up to provide political constraints.
The Obama versus Trump clash cuts deeper than hope over fear and change versus retrenchment. It dramatizes competing strains of authentic Americanism, neither of which emerged ascendent in the early 21st century.
Obama’s fierce denunciations of Trump win headlines but didn’t stop his successor winning two White House terms.
Democrats must ask themselves why an ex-president who left office nearly a decade ago, handing the White House to a man who repudiated everything he stood for, remains his party’s sharpest and most popular spokesman. When Obama said it was time for change after “10 years,” it was almost as if the presidency of his own vice president Joe Biden had never happened.
The midterms have, at least, put a spotlight on some younger Democratic ‘leaders with voice and conviction who might modernize their party’s appeal, like Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico.
Republicans also need renewal, with Trump both deeply unpopular and term-limited. But Democrats have shown how hard it can be to replace a talismanic leader with a movement who sometimes struggled to transfer his quintessential aura to lesser political talents. Two open presidential tickets in 2028 may open a new era that takes the country onward from the perpetual battle between Obamaism and Trumpism.
Obama seemed to hint as much himself: “I’ve been doing this a long time,” he said in Michigan. “Some people might say I’ve been doing this too long,” adding that his wife Michelle was telling him, “Old man, sit down!”
But the former president was in vintage form, rolling out his greatest hits like, “don’t boo, vote” and “I love you back” that recalled how his events once distilled a sense of shared purpose among supporters, just as Trump’s MAGA rallies have throughout his political career.
In Michigan, Obama connected Trump’ssmears of Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed with the president’s racist campaign that called his US citizenship into doubt.
Republicans accuse El-Sayed of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group founded in Egypt, which he denies. The irony that Obama as president once traveled to Egypt to give a speech meant to foster American reconciliation with the Muslim world went unspoken.
Obama on Saturday showed that his campaign trail superpower of creating simple stakes is undimmed. While lampooning the president — quipping that Trump’s renovations have “the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory” — he argued voters can enact the change America needs.
“The current president chose to make a series of bad decisions,” Obama said, highlighting the prices of gas and diesel and the spike in mortgage rates. “He decided to start an unnecessary war nobody has asked for and nobody voted for.”
“If you thought everything cost too much before, guess what? Everything is more expensive now,” Obama said.
This twinning of war and economy messages recalls the former president’s 2008 argument, when he railed against “dumb” wars like the one in Iraq and an economy that had left Americans with “cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay, and tuition that’s beyond your reach.”
Back then, he blamed “a broken politics in Washington” and the “failed policies” of a Republican president (Bush). To match an even more extreme time, his message has grown starker still.
But there’s also something deeper happening. Trump’s critics see his presidency as a cultural backlash to the first Black presidency. And many of Trump’s policies on Iran, healthcare and in other areas seem to percolate from his contempt for his first presidential predecessor.
So when Obama told his crowd that “everywhere you go, it feels like change is in the air” he was not simply referring to the midterm elections; he was restating the faith on which his political identity and legacy depend — that regular Americans, coming together, can combine to forge political change from the bottom up against entrenched power.
Obama, as he often seems to be, was on Trump’s mind throughout his rally in Georgia for embattled GOP Senate candidate Mike Collins.
Trump judged their relative political magnetism through his own judgment of their crowd sizes. “I saw Barack Hussein Obama was in Michigan. And the place was empty,” he said, in a subjective assessment of the former president’s turnout.
And the two rivals sparred at a distance over Iran, with Obama saying his deal with the Islamic Republic to freeze its nuclear program meant he didn’t need to fight a war, and Trump claiming it was a path to the country gaining a nuclear weapon.
The president, his voice hoarse from constant campaigning, announced a new plan by the German auto manufacturer Audi to build a new plant to build SUVs in Macon, Georgia, that he said would produce 200,000 vehicles a year and create 30,000 jobs, drawing chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump” from a rowdy crowd.
Despite polls showing majorities of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, he argued he’d made the country more prosperous, lowered poverty, boosted manufacturing and unleashed trillions of dollars in inward investment. “Remember when Barack Hussein Obama used to say that there’d be no manufacturing?” Trump asked his crowd, apparently referring to the then-president’s 2016 remark that he’d need a “magic wand” to bring jobs back.
Trump was prodding at a weak spot in Obama’s legacy — one that catalyzed his own political rise — the belief in 2016 among many traditionally Democratic blue-collar Rust Belt voters that they were no longer valued or respected.
Two decades after Obama burst onto the political scene, and a decade after Trump threatened everything Obama stood for with his own unlikely election triumph, these fierce political adversaries remain their party’s dominant political figures.
But the midterm elections — which may turn out to be one of their last battles — may begin to answer a question for a new political age: Can either party produce a successor who can so effectively capture the political zeitgeist in the second quarter of the 21st century?
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