Obama overestimates his political sway

OPINION:

Last October, former President Barack Obama had some blunt words for Black men: Get out and vote for Kamala Harris, or else.

“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” he told a Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh. He said the problem “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”

Mr. Obama scolded: “And you are thinking about sitting out? Part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

He mansplained how “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time,” and “When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting.”

Mr. Obama’s pleas didn’t move the needle for Ms. Harris. President Trump nearly doubled his support among Black voters in 2024 from his 2020 results, increasing from 5% to 10% among women and from 12% to 21% among men, according to a Pew Research analysis.

Interestingly, Mr. Obama isn’t making the same argument on behalf of Winsome Earle-Sears, a Black Republican and U.S. Marine Corps veteran running for Virginia governor. However, lacking a clear leader of the Democratic Party, Mr. Obama is stepping up his visibility in November’s political races, believing he still has the influence to sway voters on the campaign trail.

That gamble may backfire. The hope and change Mr. Obama ran and won on in 2008 and 2012 didn’t result in a better America.

Mr. Obama’s signature health care achievement, the Affordable Care Act, continues to need repeated taxpayer bailouts because of its unaffordability. His focus on racial bias fostered an anti-police climate, which led to communities becoming less safe. His economic policies led to a slow recovery for many working- and middle-class families, stagnant wages and a drop in the labor force participation rate to its lowest point since the 1970s. Mr. Obama’s foreign policy of “leading from behind” led to a more bellicose Iran and emboldened Russia to invade Ukraine.

Since Mr. Obama’s departure from political office, his speeches have become less inspiring and more condescending and patronizing. He consistently blames American voters for not recognizing his achievements or being able to move beyond their racial, sexist and moral biases. He wasn’t able to boost Democratic turnout in 2024, yet he believes he can sway voters a year later.

Four days ago, Mr. Obama joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom to promote California Democrats’ redistricting effort. This Saturday, he is set to rally with Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Abigail Spanberger, in Norfolk, and New Jersey’s gubernatorial candidate, Mikie Sherrill, in Newark.

Mr. Obama has decided to enter a more “political and public-facing role than he once envisioned” this year, The Washington Post reported last week, because of the “anxieties he harbors about Trump’s second term.”

“The ex-president has grown especially worried that some lawmakers and voters are not confronting Trump with the same urgency they showed during his first term — and that major institutions, including universities and law firms, have too often capitulated to Trump’s demands, said a person familiar with [Mr. Obama’s] thinking,” The Post reported.

On a podcast this month, Mr. Obama said Mr. Trump’s policies have led to “masked folks with rifles and machine guns patrolling our streets” and “kangaroo courts and trumped-up charges.” He said there needed to be “a few folks standing up and giving courage to other folks.” He decried that the country is “being tested right now” and urged people to “take a stand.”

Rich, coming from Mr. Obama, who, during his tenure, targeted conservative organizations through the IRS, used the Espionage Act to put a record number of reporters’ sources in jail and green-lit his intelligence agencies to investigate the 2016 Trump campaign’s (phony) ties to Russia.

Instead of building up a new generation of Democratic leaders, Mr. Obama’s administration obliterated the party while he served in the White House. During his presidency, the Democratic Party lost a net total of 13 governorships and 816 state legislative seats, the most of any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

So, as a Republican, I welcome Mr. Obama’s renewed presence in the public domain. He paved the way for Mr. Trump’s ascendency but is still too arrogant, nearly a decade later, to even contemplate the thought.

• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.