Last edited Sun Nov 2, 2025, 10:11 AM - Edit history (1)
I am not denying that. It is real, of course. That really is not what I am talking about.
I am talking about, what seems to me, as massive denialism. What I mean by that is that Obama has always been a picture of optimism -- that was a big part of his secret sauce. And he moved the country in a major way, or so we thought. We thought we were finally moving beyond the centuries of enduring racism that has been the foundation of this nation. His focus on the better angels was uplifting to millions of Americans.
Here is the problem. In fact, it was uplifting to a big part of the nation. But for another terribly large segment of the population, it brought out the worst demons. Nobody is blaming Obama for that. The enduring racism is there BECAUSE the country never dealt with it. The Civil War never ended, and today it seems to be back upon us in full force. That is not Obama's fault. It is America's big flaw. And I am certainly not saying Obama had many great options in 2009-2016 to have changed that. That is not what I am saying.
What I am saying is that his Presidency unleashed the beast (again, not Obama's fault -- the beast was and still is there). But if leaders across the board would have stepped up to that, as John McCain did on several occasions, maybe we could have dealt with the beast.
But other than McCain, there were no GOP leaders to step in an lift us up from our history of racism. I hope we both agree with all of this so far. The problem is what happened next, and that is what I am talking about today.
What happened next is that Trump, a life-long racist of the first order, saw this situation developing, and he saw an opportunity to step into the political space and make his "biggest deal ever". Trump rode that racist beast to power, but the two things that mean more to Trump than racism are money and adoration. In the span of 15 years, Trump has turned "birtherism" into a full-fledged fascist state where he can suck billions of dollars out of our economy, commit unlimited crimes with no punishment, and declare laws through executive order. And the fact that this also fans the flames of centuries-old racism, well that is a bonus for Trump.
When I watch Obama's recent speeches, I see the same Obama we saw in 2018. Mostly, he talks like none of this happened, and if we just win some elections here and there, everything will be fine. He is stumping for candidates, and I guess that is a good thing, but his message is anything but hair on fire. It is as if he doesn't really believe anything is wrong with what is happening to our country today.
And that is why I get very concerned when we hear he is trying to be counselor to Mamdani. I'm pretty sure Obama is trying to tell Mamdani, "Hey pal, ix-nay on the ocialism-say." From where I sit, it looks like Obama is trying to tamp down the voices that are challenging us to stand up to the threats we face today. Obama is not the only one, of course. We face a major fight between the Democratic Party establishment and the younger voices who are saying "No, this is not OK. We can no longer just go along to get along."
I hope I am reading Obama wrong, but I don't think so.
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