Here are 18 times Obama got unapologetically political in 2018

Obama sent a letter to the survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Following a deadly shooting in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama sent a letter to the survivors.

Many of the students who survived the shooting emerged as unapologetically vocal proponents of gun reform, often criticizing the National Rifle Association in the process. Consequently, they became the targets of the gun lobby and gun rights activists.

In this context, the Obamas praised the students for their "resilience, resolve, and solidarity" following an "unspeakable tragedy."

"Not only have you supported and comforted each other, but you've helped awaken the conscience of the nation, and challenged decision-makers to make the safety of our children the country's top priority," the Obamas wrote.

Obama slammed Trump for withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear deal.

In May, Obama issued a deeply critical statement against Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal.

The Obama administration orchestrated the landmark pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in exchange for the easing of economic sanctions.

Obama described Trump's decision to withdraw from the pact as "misguided."

"Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America's closest allies, and an agreement that our country's leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated," Obama said. "In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America's credibility, and puts us at odds with the world's major powers."

Prior to this statement, Obama had largely avoided directly criticizing Trump. This marked a shift in tone and tactics from Obama in his post-presidency.

Obama warned that if the US stays so divided then its economy and democracy might not survive.

At a May tech conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Obama warned about the long-term consequences of political divisiveness.

"We are a people that came from everywhere else, so we had to figure out how to join together and work together, not based on race, or religious faith or even, initially, language, but based on creed and a sense of principals," Obama said.

He said the biggest question the US is facing is "how do we maintain that sense of common purpose, our 'in it together,' as opposed to splintering and dividing?"

The former president then said, "As we are seeing in some debates in social media and elsewhere, it's harder to do today. But I think it becomes more necessary than ever, because if we don't figure it out, not only will it be hard for our economy to survive but it is going to be hard for our democracy to survive."

Obama said people needed to step out of their political bubbles and expand their media diets as part of the solution.

"Right now part of our polarization is that if you watch Fox News all day, or you read The New York Times, you are occupying two different realities. We have to be able to figure out, in this multiplicity of platforms, to have some common baseline of facts that allow us to meet and solve problems," he said.

On World Refugee Day, Obama took aim at Trump's policies and rhetoric in a politically-charged Facebook post.

In June, Obama marked World Refugee Day with an impassioned political statement on Facebook.

"If you've been fortunate enough to have been born in America, imagine for a moment if circumstance had placed you somewhere else. Imagine if you'd been born in a country where you grew up fearing for your life, and eventually the lives of your children," he said.

"That's the reality for so many of the families whose plights we see and heart-rending cries we hear. And to watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents' arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children?"

"That's the legacy our parents and grandparents and generations before created for us, and it's something we have to protect for the generations to come. But we have to do more than say 'this isn't who we are.' We have to prove it - through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes," he wrote.

This came in the wake of the implementation of Trump's "zero tolerance" policy that saw thousands of migrant families separated at the border. Migrant families were also separated under Obama, but not nearly as often.

Obama's statement did not mention Trump by name, but seemed to be a rebuke of the president's hardline approach to immigration.

Obama told Democrats to stop searching for a savior and to snap out of their funk about the 2016 election.

At a fundraiser for the Democratic Party in late June, Obama urged fellow Democrats to stop looking for a savior and get focused ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

"Do not wait for the perfect message, don't wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you're expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, 'OK, I'll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15 to 20 minutes it takes for me to vote,'" Obama said.

"That's part of what happened in the last election," he added. "I heard that too much."

He said one of the reasons Republicans often win elections is because "they don't worry about inspiration" and are better at staying focused. "They worry about winning the seat and they are very systematic about work not just at the presidential level but at the congressional and state legislative levels," Obama said.

And in what was seemingly a veiled critique of Trump, the former president said, "Fear is powerful. Telling people that somebody's out to get you, or somebody took your job, or somebody has it out for you, or is going to change you, or your community, or your way of life – that's an old story and it has shown itself to be powerful in societies all around the world."

Obama slammed "strongman politics" as he delivered the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in South Africa.

Obama issued a sharp rebuke of Trump's political philosophy as he delivered the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in South Africa in July.

As he'd often done in the past, Obama critiqued Trump without mentioning his name.

"Strongman politics are ascendant suddenly," Obama said. "Whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained, the form of it. But those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning."

Obama called on people to denounce and reject xenophobia and "rabid nationalism," warning that history shows countries that embrace "doctrines of tribal, racial, or religious superiority" ultimately "find themselves consumed by civil war or external war."

"You can be proud of your heritage without denigrating those of a different heritage," Obama added. "These people who are so intent on putting people down and puffing themselves up, they're small-hearted," Obama said. "There's something they're just afraid of." This speech came not long after Trump visited Europe and controversially suggested the continent was losing its "culture" because of immigration policies. "You have to believe in facts. Without facts, there's no basis for cooperation," Obama said, adding: "Unfortunately, too much of politics today seems to reject the very concept of objective truth. People just make stuff up."

Obama said men were getting on his "nerves," saying "we're violent; we're bullying." He also called on more women to run for office.

Obama said men were getting on his "nerves" and urged more women to run for office during a speech to young leaders in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July.

"Every day I read the newspaper, and I just keep thinking — brothers, what's wrong with you guys? What's wrong with us? We're violent; we're bullying," Obama said at the time.

"Just, you know, not handling our business. I think empowering more women on the continent is going to, right away, lead to some better policies," Obama added.

"Women, in particular, by the way, I want you to get more involved," he said. "Men have been getting on my nerves lately."

Obama endorsed a number of candidates running in the 2018 midterms.

In August, Obama announced his first wave of endorsements of Democratic candidates for the 2018 midterms.

Obama tweeted, "Today I'm proud to endorse such a wide and impressive array of Democratic candidates — leaders as diverse, patriotic, and big-hearted as the America they're running to represent."

He continued: "I'm confident that, together, they'll strengthen this country we love by restoring opportunity, repairing our alliances and standing in the world, and upholding our fundamental commitment to justice, fairness, responsibility, and the rule of law. But first, they need our votes."

He announced more endorsements in October ahead of Election Day on November 6.

Obama urged Americans to abandon "mean and petty" politics as he delivered a eulogy for Sen. John McCain.

Obama delivered a powerful eulogy for Republican Sen. John McCain, his former political rival, in early September.

He urged Americans to abandon "mean and petty" politics.

"So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty," Obama said. "Trafficking in bombast and insult, and phony controversies, and manufactured outrage. It's a politics that pretends to be brave and tough but, in fact, is born of fear."

Obama continued: "John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that."

"We were standard bearers of different American political traditions and throughout my presidency, John never hesitated to tell me when he thought I have screwing up, which by his calculation was about once a day," Obama said.

"But for all our differences ... We never doubted the other man's sincerity or the other man's patriotism, or that when all was said and done we were on the same team," Obama said.

The former president's speech did not reference Trump, but appeared to be a rebuke of his demeanor and rhetoric.

Trump controversially attacked McCain on many occasions, sparking bipartisan outrage when he criticized the late senator's time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump suggested McCain was not heroic and said he liked "people who weren't captured."

Obama ripped into the author of an anonymous New York Times op-ed who claimed there was a "quiet resistance" against Trump in the White House.

Obama slammed the author of an anonymous New York Times op-ed who claimed there was a "quiet resistance" against Trump in the White House.

"That's not how our democracy is supposed to work," Obama said during a speech to students at the University of Illinois in September. "These people aren't elected ... They're not doing us a favor by actively promoting 90% of the crazy stuff coming out of this White House and saying, 'Don't worry, we're preventing the other 10%.'"

Obama added: "This is not normal. These are extraordinary times. And they're dangerous times."

Obama took direct aim at Trump for the first time and said he was a "symptom, not the cause" of many of America's problems.

Obama took direct aim at Trump for the first time in a speech at the University of Illinois in early September.

The former president said Trump was "a symptom, not the cause," of the divisiveness plaguing American politics.

"It did not start with Donald Trump," Obama said. "He is a symptom, not the cause. He's just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years."

Obama went on to characterize Trump as a bully and blasted the president's response to violence at a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Trump controversially blamed "many sides" for the violence at the rally.

"We are Americans — we're supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them," Obama said. "We're supposed to stand up to discrimination."

"We're supposed to stand up to discrimination, and we're sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers," Obama said. "How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?"

The former president also criticized Trump's attacks on the free press. Trump routinely refers to news he doesn't like as "Fake News," and has called some of the most prominent media outlets in the country the "enemy of the people."

"It shouldn't be Democratic or Republican to say that we don't threaten the freedom of the press because they say things or publish stories we don't like," Obama said at the time. "I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down, or call them 'enemies of the people.'"

In the same speech, Obama chided Republicans for taking credit for the state of the economy, contending its more positive aspects were a continuation of trends that began during his presidency.

"So when you hear how the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started," Obama said.

This speech was part of Obama's efforts to bolster Democrats chances in the 2018 midterms. He hit the campaign trail on a number of occasions in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

During the speech, Obama told students, "You need to vote because our democracy depends on it."

Obama discredited excuses for not voting, urging young people to get to the polls.

Obama shot down many standard excuses for not voting in a video for Attn: released in October in the weeks leading up to the 2018 midterms.

"Here's your chance to vote for people who actually know what the internet is," Obama said. "You wouldn’t let your grandparents pick your playlist. Why would you let them pick your representative who’s going to determine your future?"

Obama appeared in a similar video for Now This News in early September in which he also urged young people to get out and vote.

President @BarackObama doesn't have time for these 7 excuses not to vote. pic.twitter.com/2Etpm6taTq

— ATTN: (@attn) October 17, 2018

Obama said there's a pattern of the GOP running the economy into the ground, forcing the Democrats to come in and clean things up.

Obama rejected the GOP's attempts to take credit for the state of the economy during a midterm-election rally in Nevada in late October.

"By the time I left office, wages were rising, the uninsured rate was falling, poverty was falling, and that's what I handed off to the next guy," Obama said. "So when you hear all this talk about economic miracles right now, remember who started it."

The president also suggested that history shows a trend of Republicans hurting the economy and Democrats coming in to bring it back to life.

"I do think it's interesting, I just hope people notice that every time there's a pattern where they run things into the ground and we have to come back and clean things up," Obama said at the time.

Obama ripped into "mealy-mouthed" politicians who criticize bad behavior but don't do anything about it and slammed Trump as a hypocrite.

During a midterm-election rally in Wisconsin in late October, Obama criticized what he referred to as "mealy-mouthed" lawmakers who speak out against bad behavior but don't do anything substantial to address it.

"We need leaders who will actually stand up for what's right, regardless of party," the former president said at the time.

This came shortly after a nationwide bomb scare that saw a number of top Democratic political figures targeted, including Obama.

Trump's overall response to the scare was broadly criticized, particularly after he seemingly blamed the media for what occurred despite the fact CNN's offices in New York City were among the locations targeted. The president said it was the media's job to set a "civil tone" for the nation.

Obama called out Trump over his calls for civility, characterizing his successor's words as hypocritical.

"I'm hoping you think it's wrong to hear people spend years, months, vilifying people, questioning their patriotism, calling them enemies of the people — and then suddenly you're concerned about civility. Please," Obama said.

Obama rebuked hecklers at a rally for Florida Democrats.

At a rally for Florida Democrats in early November just days before the midterm elections, the former president rebuked hecklers who interrupted his speech multiple times.

"Listen, here's the deal," Obama said to the hecklers. "If you support the other candidates, then you should go support the other candidates."

"One of the things I never understood was, why, if you're supporting the other guy, you come to my rally," Obama said. "Go to their rally. Go talk about what you're for. Don't come hollering here."

Obama was there to show support for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.

Obama congratulated everyone who participated in the 2018 midterms, which saw record turnout.

After the 2018 midterm elections, which saw Democrats retake the House of Representatives, Obama issued a statement congratulating everyone who participated.

"Congratulations to everybody who showed up and participated in our democracy in record numbers yesterday," Obama tweeted. "The change we need won’t come from one election alone – but it is a start. Last night, voters across the country started it."

According to data compiled by the lobbyist Bruce Mehlman, voter turnout for a US midterm election hit its highest level in over 100 years in 2018.

Roughly 116 million Americans voted, according to an analysis from the US Elections Project.

On average, approximately 40% of eligible voters participate in US midterms, but roughly 49.2% participated in 2018's elections.

Obama met with potential 2020 candidates in his Washington, DC, offices.

After the 2018 midterms, Obama met with potential Democratic candidates for president for 2020 in his Washington, DC, offices: Andrew Gillum and Beto O'Rourke.

Both lost in their respective races, but gained national attention for their charisma and campaign styles.

Gillum ran for governor in Florida and O'Rourke ran for US Senate in Texas. They've emerged as rising stars for the Democratic Party and have been pegged as possible contenders in the upcoming presidential election.

Obama endorsed Gillum as he campaigned and recently expressed admiration for O'Rourke, stating the Texas congressman reminds him of himself.

Obama urged Americans to sign up for Obamacare.

Obama on December 10 urged Americans to sign up for health coverage via the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

"No jump shots. No ferns. No memes. Not this time," Obama said in a tweet. "I’m going to give it to you straight: If you need health insurance for 2019, the deadline to get covered is December 15. Go to http://HealthCare.gov today and pass this on — you just might save a life."

Obamacare remains the former president's most notable legislative accomplishment. Republicans have repeatedly attempted to repeal the landmark health bill, but have failed in these efforts.

No jump shots. No ferns. No memes. Not this time. I’m going to give it to you straight: If you need health insurance for 2019, the deadline to get covered is December 15. Go to https://t.co/ob1Ynoesod today and pass this on — you just might save a life. pic.twitter.com/8mHMsXGY0g

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 10, 2018