Former President Barack Obama criticized the political “doom loop” created by politicians who portray their opponents as “enemies to be vanquished” just weeks after he warned voters about now President-elect Donald Trump while campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris.
During his keynote address Thursday about the importance of pluralism at the Obama Foundation’s third Democracy Forum in Chicago, the former president reiterated his criticism of media companies for “playing to the extremes” and politicians who adopt “a maximalist position on almost every issue.”
Obama went on to say that polarization has made “every election becomes an act of mortal combat in which political opponents are enemies to be vanquished, and compromise is viewed as betrayal, and total victory is the only acceptable outcome.”
“Since total victory is impossible in a country…
