Former President Barack Obama urged on liberal student activist groups in a special essay published by Time magazine recognizing the top 100 most influential people in 2018.
Barack Obama reminded all Americans of a duty to make their country more equal for all races and ages.
“This generation — of Parkland, of Dreamers, of Black Lives Matter — embraces that duty,” he wrote. “If they make their elders uncomfortable, that’s how it should be.”
Obama praised the young liberal students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for tackling the NRA after their school was attacked by a deranged gunman and for successfully persuading retailers and businesses to stop selling some types of guns.
“The NRA’s favored candidates are starting to fear they might lose,” he said optimistically, although he warned that “NRA scare tactics” were still keeping the Republican Congress in check.
The former president failed to move any anti-gun legislation during his presidency, despite many frustrated lectures to members of Congress for failing to restrict the Second Amendment.
In his essay, Obama denounced “mealymouthed politicians” and “mendacious commentators peddling conspiracy theories” as “shills” for the gun industry and complained that Americans only offered “thoughts and prayers” after a mass shooting.
“This time, something different is happening,” he wrote. “This time, our children are calling us to account.”
One of the students, David Hogg, thanked the president for his message.
Thanks, Obama. https://t.co/ydeXa3TFhg
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) April 19, 2018
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