Democrats long for a senior statesman to guide the party through the murky Trump-era waters, and neither Clinton is cutting it. Jimmy Carter is too old; Bernie Sanders is too socialist; Joe Biden is too gaffe-prone; and the rest of the party regulars are either similarly flawed or just plain boring. Luckily, the party of FDR, JFK, and LBJ have a savior in waiting: Barack Hussein Obama.
Just like the rest of us, the Democratic Party in America is finally coming down with the illness known as Clinton-fatigue. The more sane elements of society first experienced the disease in the early nineties but now, even the Democrats have caught the bug. Whether it’s Hillary’s perpetual blame-others-for-her-2016-election-loss world tour or Bill’s complete tone deafness on the #MeToo movement, liberals have finally had enough of the Clintons. But physicians for the party of the donkey believe they’ve found a cure: The Obama Vaccine.
Back in January, Newsweek ran a headline that read: “Obama is returning to politics in 2018, and Trump should be worried.” It’s as if they believe that Obama’s mere presence will magically transform Democratic fortunes. When he left office in 2017, Obama hinted that he would fade into the background and make room for other Democrats to take the lead. But according to a recent article in The Hill, party insiders have been looking to Obama for leadership in these desperate times.
The former president seems to be taking the hint, as he has begun putting his organizing skills to use with Organizing For Action (OFA), a political action group formed shortly after his 2012 election victory. The group is made up of former Obama campaign aides and advisors. Recently, OFA has ramped up its activities in advance of the 2018 mid-term elections, even announcing a “hit-list” of 27 House districts that they are looking to turn Democrat in November. The seats being targeted by OFA are AZ-02, CA-04, CA-10, CA-21, CA-25, CA-39, CA-45, CA-48, CA-49, CO-06, IA-01, IL-06, KS-03, MN-02, MN-03, MO-02, NC-09, NC-13, NJ-11, NY-11, PA-01, PA-06, PA-07, TX-07, TX-23, TX-32 and WI-01.
Prior to this year, OFA was focused on shilling for leftist issues. The shift to electoral politics seems to be a direct result of Democrat calls for Obama’s assistance in the mid-terms. “OFA has always made issue focused organizing the centerpiece of our work, fighting to increase access to affordable healthcare, foster economic fairness, combat climate change and more,” explained OFA spokesman Jesse Lehrich. “We’re expanding our programming to include electoral activity because the current dynamic in Washington threatens to reverse progress on all of those issues.”
The former president has not made any endorsements or stumped for any candidates during the primary season, but that is expected to change come autumn when election season heats up. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee will reportedly take the lead in telling Obama which races to become involved with as they look ahead to any possible gerrymandering following the 2020 census.
While the former president has maintained a lower profile, he has never gone away entirely. On several occasions during the Trump administration, Obama has taken to Twitter and other platforms to criticize Trump and the GOP on tax cuts; the Charlottesville, Virginia, unrest; leaving the Paris Climate Accord; and, most recently, Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal.
The calls for Obama to return to public life and lead his party again were entirely predictable. With each policy and societal victory of President Trump, the Left’s rhetoric seems just a little more unhinged. Whether it be the tax cut, the repeal of the health insurance mandate, the summit with Kim Jong-un, or even Kanye West wearing a Make America Great Again hat, Trump vexes liberals at every turn. Like many anxiety-ridden people, the Democrats are looking to the past for answers to their current dilemmas.
So, like a bad penny, Obama, it seems, is back. This time, though, he can’t use his pen and his phone to take executive action.
