The following article by Amie Parnes was posted on the Hill website September 8, 2018:
It was a speech Barack Obama had held off from delivering.
For months, the former president refused to come off the political sidelines, even as some activists said that they wanted him to publicly take on President Trump.
Obama grumbled privately to close allies about Trump, but said he did not want to become even more of a foil to his successor, who frequently criticizes him on Twitter and in remarks to friendly audiences.
He said he wanted to create space for new leaders to emerge, and that he didn’t want to suck up all the oxygen.