WINNIPEG, Canada — Former President Barack Obama took a jab at his old GOP rival, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., on Monday.
About midway through an hour-long discussion at Bell MTS Place, Obama spoke about fulfilling “democracy’s promise” and fixing the problems that have arisen from industrialization, climate change, and other issues in a globalized world.
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The 44th president argued that average people, not politicians, will lead the pack, and cited McConnell as the centerpiece of his hypothetical U.S. example.
“If citizens participate, then that’s how change happens. If they do not, then this isn’t going to be solved because suddenly — to take a U.S. example, Mitch McConnell suddenly comes to his senses and says, ‘You know what, I feel bad about not cooperating with Barack because actually he was pretty reasonable,'” he said to laughs.
“‘The Affordable Care Act wasn’t a particularly radical proposition. It was just providing people healthcare using the existing market-based system,'” Obama added, continuing the mock McConnell revelation.
Obama finished the anecdote casting doubt on McConnell ever having a change of heart about his signature healthcare plan.
“I don’t think a light bulb is suddenly going to flash,” Obama said, before reasserting that real change will only take place if citizens demand it.
McConnell suggested as recently as last October that the GOP might revisit repealing Obamacare after the midterm elections, a move that would now prove even more difficult with the House in control of the Democratic Party.
