Former President Barack Obama criticized the Trump administration Thursday night at an event at Hamilton College in Oneida County, pointing to the polarization in the U.S., lack of international cooperation and the erosion of the common rules of democracy.

“For most of my lifetime, post-World War II era, there was a broad consensus between Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals. There was a certain set of rules where we settled our differences. There was a creed we all stuck to where all of us count, all of us have dignity, all of us have worth,” said Obama, who didn’t mention President Donald Trump by name during the event. 

But now the commitment to those rules has been eroded, he said.

“I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” Obama said. “That kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans.” 

The need for cooperation extends to the international arena as well in a post-WWII era that emphasized diplomacy and alliances like NATO, he said.

“Overall, this system we set up created the wealthiest, healthiest, most peaceful era in human history,” Obama said. 

That system is at risk, he said, by the Trump administration’s shift in foreign policy that includes overtures to take control of Greenland.

“In the last two months, we have seen a U.S. government actively try to destroy that order and discredit it,” Obama said. “The thinking, I gather, is that because we are the strongest, we can just bully others into getting what we want.”  

Speaking for more than an hour to about 5,400 people — and nearly the entire student body of Hamilton College — the 44th president appeared at the school's Sacerdote Great Names series, a moderated question-and-answer event with Steven Tepper, president of the college.

Obama touched on his regrets — the inaction of the federal government following the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook — but also his optimism for the future. 

“Don’t get discouraged, I know it’s a little crazy right now but we’re going to be OK,” he concluded.