“It’s not as if we didn’t see some of this coming,” said Barack Obama, a note of bleak humour in his voice. “I will admit it’s worse than even I expected, but I did warn y’all!”
The crowd at a sports arena in Norfolk, Virginia, half-laughed and half-groaned. “I did,” Obama added. “You can run the tape.”
Now Obama is back on the campaign trail, for Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia. It gives him a platform to deliver an alternative State of the Union address. And the gloves are off.
To hear the expectant buzz of the 7,000-plus crowd in Norfolk as candidate Abigail Spanberger promised that Obama’s entrance was just moments away was to be reminded that Democrats did once have a president who could match Trump’s superstar charisma.
Obama have us Trump because he chose not to hold any bankers during the financial crisis accountable. He bailed on his constituents and bailed out corporations. He also dismantled the organizing that swept him into office. Not to mention the continuation of the illegal bush Era foreign policy. The fact that he also did not hold bush accountable. He folded on a public option. He propped up the worst people in his cabinet. He let Republicans prevent a SCOTUS judge from being confirmed to the bench. Obama let Republicans take the worst of their excesses to a new level with no accountability. We were told that the fever will break and that sanity will return. Despite the fact that the Republican project was decades in the making. Voters didn’t do this. They responded to the disdain their party leaders had for them with the reciprocal disdain for their elected officials.