Did Obama “Suggest Mandatory Voting?” A: No.
This is one of those media distortions that makes me nuts, as CNN pushes the absolutely false meme that President Obama said anything like, “Maybe it’s time for mandatory voting.” Notice that the CNN headline attributes these words directly to Obama — but he never said them.
Their own video clip shows what a ridiculous distortion this is; Obama is saying we should make voting easier, not make it “mandatory.” Yes, he mentions Australia where voting is mandatory, but only to make the point that it would be transformative if more people voted in the US. It’s a hypothetical statement. He didn’t advocate, call for, or even “suggest” making voting mandatory in the US.
But if the President was trolling the right with this statement, it worked. They’re all foaming at the mouth about this today.
