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Thread: Dems to Obama: Where Are You?

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    Default Dems to Obama: Where Are You?

    With just three weeks to go before one of most critical midterm elections in modern American history, the most powerful figure in the Democratic Party has kept his distance.

    Barack Obama’s involvement in the 2018 cycle was always bound to be limited. The former president has stressed his desire for the future generation of Democratic leaders to step up, along with a reverence for norms dictating that ex-presidents should not criticize current ones. But with fear growing within the party that they may not win back either chamber of Congress, even members of Obama’s alumni network are beginning to question whether the detachment is strategic at all.

    “Everyone agrees that he is doing very little. There is just a debate as to whether that is savvy or not,” said one former top Obama official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss the ex-president. “I think the people who are closest to him are probably all pretty comfortable with him not being as actively engaged. The people in circles of influences outward wish he was being engaged more.”

    To date, Obama’s engagement has been largely out of public view and consisted of the electoral equivalent of the low-hanging fruit. The 44th president has signed off on nearly 20 fundraising solicitations to go out under his name. He’s provided his endorsement to hundreds of candidates down-ballot. He has raised money for committees and given a speech about the fragile state of American democracy and youth participation in the midterms. But he’s held just three campaign events in 2018. His twitter feed, with more than 103 million followers, has mentioned the word “vote” three times in 2018.

    The expectation is that Obama’s activity will ramp up as Election Day nears. T

    Angst with the level of Obama’s political engagement is nearly as old as Obama’s political career itself. Throughout his presidency, a common gripe among Democrats was that Obama failed to tend to the party’s infrastructure unless it directly impacted him—exemplified by the hundreds of state and federal seats lost across the country. He was clearly a gifted candidate. But those gifts never seemed to translate to others on the ballot. Often, when he did engage politically, it proved unhelpful to the those he campaigned with.
    he criticism has followed Obama into his post-presidency, often because of factors outside of his control. Trump’s trampling of presidential norms, along with the threats his administration has posed to Obama’s legacy, has compelled Democrats to demand that Obama buck tradition and speak out more aggressively, whether it be on health care or the Supreme Court.

    “Why isn’t he out there saying, you know what, I put [Merrick] Garland out there and they politically stopped it from happening. He should just state it,” said Gutiérrez. “There is nobody more powerful than him.”

    Adding pressure to Obama has been the willingness of his peers to stay in the political spotlight even as he has not. Both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton have shown little hesitation about inserting themselves into the midterms

    A Democratic Party official working on campaigns said that when Obama has engaged it had been “impactful.” But, the official added, “We wish he would do more,” especially “as it relates to fundraising.”

    Even those deeply complimentary of the former president tacitly acknowledge his tendency to stay maddeningly above the fray. One former Obama official flagged for the Daily Beast a Facebook Post recently put up by the ex-president in which he recommended books and articles to read. One of the most liked responses to the post, the official noted, was a woman replying: “Right now I'm busy knocking on doors and making phone calls to help a local candidate. After that, I may have time to read.”
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/democr...e-you?ref=home

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    I believe you don't know a damn thing of what you're talking about.
    Last edited by Jade Dragon; 10-16-2018 at 08:01 AM.

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    I saw him do a burst of campaigning,and that was it

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    Quote Originally Posted by noise View Post
    I saw him do a burst of campaigning,and that was it
    do you miss lying about what he says?


    hes busy outing all the republican state cheating in elections

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    Quote Originally Posted by evince View Post
    do you miss lying about what he says?


    hes busy outing all the republican state cheating in elections
    I saw Uncle Joe once or twice. Crazy Hillary all too often, but not dear leader

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    If he were speaking out more...

    ...you'd be here questioning why he is not following the protocol of silence from former president.

    There are times where less is more.

    This may be one of those times.

  7. The Following User Says Thank You to Frank Apisa For This Post:

    evince (10-16-2018)

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    Quote Originally Posted by noise View Post
    I saw Uncle Joe once or twice. Crazy Hillary all too often, but not dear leader
    there are many many things you don't see idiot

    they still exist even though you pretend they dont

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Apisa View Post
    If he were speaking out more...

    ...you'd be here questioning why he is not following the protocol of silence from former president.

    There are times where less is more.

    This may be one of those times.
    yes

    the racist right just hates him because they are racists

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    Frank Apisa (10-16-2018)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Apisa View Post
    If he were speaking out more...

    ...you'd be here questioning why he is not following the protocol of silence from former president.

    There are times where less is more.

    This may be one of those times.
    less is not more for campaigns. Obama is the big Dem. star. where's Waldo?

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    Quote Originally Posted by noise View Post
    less is not more for campaigns. Obama is the big Dem. star. where's Waldo?
    He's right, though. If Obama was out there campaigning & in the news, you'd be complaining about that and saying how tradition called for predecessors to keep a low profile.

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    Quote Originally Posted by noise View Post
    less is not more for campaigns. Obama is the big Dem. star. where's Waldo?
    Like I said...

    ...if he were speaking more, you guys would be going apeshit talking about why he should be more quiet.

    In fact, you'd probably be saying stuff like, "If he were smart, he'd be saying less. He's just helping energize our base."

    You guys are clowns.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Thing1 View Post
    He's right, though. If Obama was out there campaigning & in the news, you'd be complaining about that and saying how tradition called for predecessors to keep a low profile.
    meh. I complain when losers like Hillary will not STFU with her daily blather ( actually she's helping Trump by this point)
    - I expect Obama to campaign. any comments about the lack of Obama on the trail?

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    It aint about me. The dems left me long ago with the zany progs. It's about the campaign

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    Quote Originally Posted by noise View Post
    meh. I complain when losers like Hillary will not STFU with her daily blather ( actually she's helping Trump by this point)
    - I expect Obama to campaign. any comments about the lack of Obama on the trail?
    Like I said, you'd be complaining about it.

    And what's it to ya, anyway? You should want him sitting out - keep those right-wing majorities as far as the eye can see and enjoy your dominance, and all that.

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    Ex-Presidents aren't supposed to be out on the campaign trail getting all partisan. It's hard to become a statesman when you are in the day to day dirty weeds.

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