Barack Hussein Obama II 44th President of the United States

Canadians head to the polls – you guys have polling stations, right? – on Friday. This is Canada’s national election, but it’s a parliamentary system, so that means Canadians are voting for the MPs and whichever party gets the majority will determine the prime minister. Right? Right. So, yes, Justin Trudeau is “up for re-election,” but the Labour Party is the one on the ballot, and you’re voting for your local MP. I’m just explaining this for our American readers, who might not understand parliamentary systems!

We haven’t talked much about Justin Trudeau in several weeks, not since all of the blackface controversy last month. To be clear, Trudeau wasn’t doing blackface last month. We just found out in September that Trudeau spent too much time in his teens and 20s wearing race like a costume. I actually had to stop covering the blackface stories because I was losing count of how many times Trudeau had been photographed that way. It’s a mess and yes, it’s affected his standing in most of the polling. Bloomberg said this week that Trudeau is in the political fight of his life.

So… is it weird that Barack Obama is suddenly getting involved? As an American, I can only look at our political system in utter despair, but I still believe that… current or former presidents should not get involved in other countries’ elections. So I found this slightly strange:

I was proud to work with Justin Trudeau as President. He’s a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change. The world needs his progressive leadership now, and I hope our neighbors to the north support him for another term.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 16, 2019

How is this playing in Canada? It hasn’t made much of a blip over here, probably because Trump is too busy asking other countries to interfere in OUR elections. Does Obama’s endorsement help or hurt Trudeau? I tend to think Obama is still very popular internationally, so maybe it helps Trudeau? Trudeau responded too:

Thanks my friend, we’re working hard to keep our progress going. https://t.co/l4V42PZbef

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 16, 2019

Andrew Gillum Campaigns with Former US President Barack Obama

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.
Andrew Gillum Campaigns with Former US President Barack Obama
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Barack Hussein Obama II 44th President of the United States
Former US President Barack Obama in Berlin
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