Editor's note: The opinions in this article are the author's, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of MSN or Microsoft.
At a moment when many of his former voters believe that America is facing a genuine democratic crisis, former President Barack Obama has been largely silent about what is happening in American politics. Other than a handful of appearances—an interview with David Letterman in a new Netflix show, or an oral history project at MIT—he insists on following protocol and tradition for former presidents, resisting the temptation to jump back into the political fray.
For the past year, President Trump has worked with the Republican Congress to dismantle crucial parts of Obama's legacy, including affordable health care, progressive taxation, climate-change regulation, oversight of the financial system, and immigration reform. Discussions of Medicare and Medicaid cuts surfacing in recent weeks suggest that an effort to roll back Lyndon Johnson's Great Society might be next.
That, in itself, is not unusual—when control of the White House switches hands, presidents often work to reverse key policies. And, for the most part, ex-presidents hold their peace, placing the need for a smooth transfer of power and the health of democracy ahead of securing their own legacy.
But what Trump has done over the past 14 months is anything but usual. He has employed recklessly bellicose rhetoric against dangerous adversaries such North Korea, created massive conflicts of interest by refusing to separate himself from his business empire, risked setting off a debilitating trade war without any careful deliberation, generally ignored overwhelming evidence that the Russians tampered and plan to continue tampering in our elections, and has been willing to play in the sandbox with noxious white nationalism. Trump has used his Twitter account, press conferences, and speeches to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the press, U.S. intelligence agencies, and law-enforcement officials. He has brought a level of instability and chaos to American government that is extraordinarily harmful to the health of the body politic.
But Obama has largely remained silent. That should not come as surprise. His reticence reflects one of the problems that constrained his presidency—his hesitation and resistance to getting down and dirty in the muck of partisan politics. He aimed high, but American politics went low.
As a policy-making president, Obama was highly successful. As the contributors to my new book, The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, demonstrate, he left behind an impressive record of policy accomplishment. During his first two years in office, the trifecta of the Affordable Care Act, a massive economic stimulus, and financial regulation were impressive enough to draw comparisons to President Lyndon B Johnson. Even after the legislative doors shut with the Republican takeover of the House after the midterm elections of 2010, Obama kept employing executive power to achieve progress in areas such as climate change, immigration, and criminal-justice reform that had no chance of gaining traction among Tea Party Republicans on Capitol Hill. On foreign policy there were many mistakes, such as the paralysis in Syria, though there were also some important positive developments, such as the promotion of liberal internationalism after the chaos of the Iraq War and some notable advances fighting against al-Qaeda.
But when it came to partisan politics, Obama declined to enter into bare-knuckled combat with Tea Party Republicans. He bowed out of the fight at the exact time that he was requiring congressional Democrats to vote on a series of highly controversial issues.
Obama severely underestimated how much the institutions and organizations of American conservatism have matured since the Reagan, and even the Clinton, era. The right had built a sophisticated conservative-industrial complex of media outlets, lobbying firms, and party operatives that offered a powerful counterweight to the bully pulpit of any Democratic president. Once he was in office, some of the optimism from his 2004 speech and 2008 campaign was quickly tempered, as he discovered the resources that Republicans had at their disposal and how ruthless they would be in taking on their opponents. Even as he faced a congressional GOP that would not vote for a stimulus bill in the worst part of a recession, and that made spurious accusations on Fox News and Breitbart about how he was not born in the United States, Obama stuck to his belief that compromise was possible and that reasoned dialogue could work.
Obama's strategy of trying to deflate his opposition by downplaying or hiding the impact of his programs posed political problems for his political supporters. Democrats wanted Obama to wave the flag of victory, but the president believed that avoiding drama was a better approach. As the president expanded the federal government with a hidden hand, refusing to boast of the effects of the stimulus or downplaying discussions about what his regulatory changes achieved (a sharp contrast from President Trump), Democrats didn't have as much to work with on the campaign trail.
While Americans could never miss a single bridge built by FDR's Public Works Administration—as the president advertised his achievements with Trump-like marketing skills—they could drive right by a project that came out of Obama-era legislation and never have a clue. Stimulus projects were poorly marked, and very often there was little local political celebration of projects. Michael Grunwald, in The New New Deal, reports that under 10 percent of Americans realized the stimulus had enacted the biggest middle-class tax cut in a generation; most believed the legislation had raised taxes. As the Princeton sociologist Paul Starr argues in his chapter for my book, despite significantly reducing economic inequality, Obama's programs "might as well have been declared state secrets. Many of them involved policies that were low in visibility and high in complexity and therefore inherently difficulty for ordinary citizens to understand even when they were beneficiaries."
When Republicans invested in state and local elections, with an eye toward controlling the redistricting process in 2011, the president did not fight back by leading an equally aggressive effort for his party. In his book Rat F**ked, David Daley recounts the tremendous imbalance between how the parties treated this redistricting fight. When Daley went searching for Democrats who had tried to fight back against these Republican efforts, he writes, all he could find was a "black hole of complacency, overconfidence, and unimaginative thinking." The Democratic National Committee, said former New York Representative Steve Israel, who headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "just whistled past the grave-yard." Although this was not wholly his responsibility, there was room for him to be the party leader in chief. The results of this indifference were devastating. Republicans scored huge gains in state legislatures and governorships, which were followed in 2011 by a sophisticated redistricting operation that left many red states with powerful gerrymanders that could not be undone. Indeed, depending on court rulings, those gerrymanders might be the best defense that Republicans have against Democratic gains in the midterm elections.
Congressional Democrats often expressed frustration that they did not receive much help from the White House in building the party apparatus. After the 2008 election, Obama's Organizing for America, the massive grassroots machine that emerged from the election, became a vehicle for Obama's reelection rather than a mechanism to strengthen the Democrats. Like most Democratic presidents before him, as the political scientist Daniel Gavin argued, he didn't pay attention to the financial or electoral health for the party. His relations with the DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman were poor. Obama's campaign in 2012 didn't give much money to congressional Democrats. As Republicans ramped up their operations and the Tea Party galvanized a genuine grassroots mobilization, Democrats were left in a weakened state. Obama failed them. When Barack Obama's presidential party came to an end in December 2016, his political party was left to get over a terrible hangover.
While Republican elected officials appealed to their base, and gave devoted activists a seat at the table, Obama was never comfortable with the most enthusiastic segments of his constituency. He kept an arms-length distance from Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, even though he sympathized with many of their goals. Obama and his allies responded that the left ignored the realities of the day. The irony was that his presidency, as the historian Michael Kazin argues in his chapter of The Presidency of Barack Obama, stimulated a proliferation of left-wing organizations, culminating with the insurgency of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders during the 2016 Democratic primaries. While many of Sanders's goals might not have been achievable during Obama's presidency, Obama could have done more to try to keep the left involved in White House deliberations and give more public support to their grassroots efforts.
Now Democrats are reliving the political frustration from the Obama years. Right when the Democrats are in desperate need of strong leadership, looking for someone who has the muscle and clout to push back against the aggressive, smash-mouth, destructive politics of Trump, the former president has not done nearly enough to step in to fill this void. After an interval, Bill Clinton brought a fierce sense of urgency to the campaign trail in his post-presidency, and Jimmy Carter has done the same with regards to foreign policy. While Trump has provoked an extensive grassroots counter-mobilization, as Theda Skocpol and Lara Putnam document in the new issue of Democracy, it's largely leaderless.
When Obama became president in 2009, Republicans could afford to have former President George W. Bush sit on the sidelines as they rebuilt their strength. Unlike Obama, Bush was hugely unpopular. But more importantly, the right had its institutions as a solid base for revival. The grassroots energy of the Tea Party was connected to these entrenched institutions, from Fox News to Dick Army's FreedomWorks. But the Democratic Party can't afford to wait; it needs Obama to learn from one of the great mistakes of his own presidency: his failure to take seriously enough the grave political threat his party was facing.
Related: Best photos from the Obama White House years (Photo Services)
Barack Obama, the 44th president of the U.S., held office for eight years. As the former US President turns a year older today - we take a look back at a selection of images during his presidency captured by the official White House photographers.
(Pictured) "First Lady Michelle Obama snuggles against the president during a video taping for the 2015 World Expo in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on March 27, 2015."
*The descriptions are all provided by the White House chief photographer Pete Souza.
"President-elect Barack Obama was about to walk out to take the oath of office. Backstage at the U.S. Capitol, he took one last look at his appearance in the mirror."
"We were on a freight elevator headed to one of the Inaugural Balls. It was quite chilly, so the president removed his tuxedo jacket and put it over the shoulders of his wife. Then they had a semi-private moment as staff member and Secret Service agents tried not to look."
"During a Super Bowl watching party in the White House Theater, the president and first lady join their guests in watching one of the TV commercials in 3D."
"A temporary White House staffer, Carlton Philadelphia, brought his family to the Oval Office for a farewell photo with President Obama. Carlton's son softly told the president he had just gotten a haircut like President Obama, and asked if he could feel the president's head to see if it felt the same as his."
"This was a great scene just before dinner at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy. As the leaders arrived, they spontaneously moved to a small patio outside. Several different conversations were taking place. Finally as dusk settled in, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, at far right, motioned for everyone to move inside for the dinner."
"The president jockeys for a rebound with congressmen during a basketball game at the White House. I think opponents are always surprised at how tough and competitive he can be."
"This photo was taken about 4 a.m. after the president made an unannounced trip to Dover Air Force Base to pay respects to fallen troops coming back from Afghanistan. After meeting privately with the families, the president walked alone up the ramp of the cargo plane carrying the 18 caskets, all draped in American flags. I could see the emotion on his face as he walked from casket to casket, leaving a presidential coin on each. When he was done, he paused for a few minutes, head bowed in prayer. I heard him tell others later how that was the most difficult moment of his presidency thus far. Out of respect for the families, not all of who wanted their ceremony photographed, we can't show those pictures."
"He and the vice president were headed for the short walk from the White House to the Eisenhower Executive Office building to brief congressional leaders on his new Afghanistan strategy that he would publicly unveil at West Point that night. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had just pulled up in her motorcade and the vice president congratulated her that her daughter, Chelsea, had just gotten engaged."
"Before the Nobel Peace Prize dinner in Oslo, Norway, the president and first lady wave from a balcony to the crowd gathered below in the town square. Not only did I have a unique vantage point, I was also able to keep warm on a very chilly night."
"The day after the health care bill passed, the president greeted Sen. Tom Harkin at the door of the Oval Office before a meeting with the Senate Democratic Leadership."
"Sometimes the unexpected happens. At a cafe in Missouri, I was trying to capture patrons snapping photos of each other with the President when this guy did what wise-guys do."
"The skies opened up on Memorial Day outside of Chicago, Illinois. When the lightning began, the Secret Service told the president that it was too dangerous to proceed. He took the stage by himself and informed the audience that his speech was canceled and that for everyone's safety, they should return to their buses. Later, he boarded a few of the buses to thank them for attending and apologized for not being able to speak."
"We were walking through a locker room at the University of Texas when White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson stopped to weigh himself on a scale. Unbeknownst to him, the president was stepping on the back of the scale, as Marvin continued to slide the scale lever. Everyone but Marvin was in on the joke."
"We had arrived back at the Westchester County Airport in New York, headed back to Washington. Because of the configuration of the helicopter, everyone had to board before the president. So he waited for a few minutes in the motorcade, illuminated by the interior light, until everyone was situated."
"Visiting the Great Buddha of Kamakura, in Japan, the president had a green tea ice cream bar with his hosts. He had visited this Buddha as a young child and said he remembered sitting in the exact same place having an ice cream bar."
"The late afternoon light was bouncing off the glass and steel at the Palácio do Alvorada in Brasilia, Brazil, as the president and his family arrived to greet Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota. I was backpedaling as I made this picture and in retrospect wish that I had taken this at a lower angle."
"Much has been made of this photograph that shows the president and vice president and the national security team monitoring in real time the mission against Osama bin Laden. Seated in this picture from left to right: Vice President Biden, the president, Brig. Gen. Webb, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Standing, from left, are: Admiral Mike Mullen, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; Audrey Tomason, Director for Counterterrorism; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper."
"This was one of the great trips of the year, albeit brief, when we visited Ireland in May. This rope line in Moneygall was particularly fun as people reacted so jubilantly to the president and first lady. It was somewhat unusual, though, in that the sun kept coming in and out, and at times it was even pouring rain."
"The president visited Joplin, Missouri, following a devastating tornado. Here he greets Hugh Hills, 85, in front of his home. Hills told the President he hid in a closet during the tornado, which destroyed the second floor and half the first floor of his house."
"The president had attended the fourth grade closing ceremony for his daughter Sasha at her school in Bethesda, Maryland. As he was departing, he noticed some pre-school children peering out of a window at a child care facility adjacent to Sasha's school so he walked over to say hello to them."
"Samantha Appleton, who has since left the White House, photographed the first lady as she met with former South African President Nelson Mandela at his home in Houghton, South Africa."
"The president shakes hands with students before he delivers remarks on the American Jobs Act at Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver, Colorado. The wider view also shows security personnel on the roof."
"The president walks into a hospital room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he presented a wounded warrior with a Purple Heart."
"Even backstage, Jay Leno is a hoot. Here he tells the punch line to a funny story as the president waits to tape 'The Tonight Show' in Burbank, California."
"The president reacts jokingly after the first lady in her remarks called Jill Biden, 'my favorite person here,' despite the fact that her husband was standing next to her. All in good fun, the president then spoke at the signing ceremony for the Veterans Opportunity to Work to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building."
"I photograph a lot of presidential phone calls from the Oval Office. But rarely is the light like this, backlit and reflecting back from a briefing paper. On Thanksgiving Day, the president made phone calls to 10 U.S. military service members — two each from the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy — to thank them for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving."
"Attending the annual Army vs. Navy football game at FedEx Field outside Washington, the president spent part of the first half watching the game with midshipmen from the Naval Academy. During the second half, he crossed the field and watched with cadets from the U.S. Military Academy (pictured here)."
"A nice way to celebrate the New Year for the president was to jump in the ocean in his native state of Hawaii. He was on his annual Christmas vacation with family and friends, and went swimming at Pyramid Rock Beach in Kāneʻohe Bay."
"One of the most memorable moments of the year was when the president hugged Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as he walked onto the floor of the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol to deliver his annual State of the Union address."
"Chuck Kennedy made this amusing photograph of First Lady Michelle Obama participating in a potato sack race with Jimmy Fallon in the East Room of the White House during a 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' taping for the second anniversary of the Let's Move! initiative."
"Egged on by B.B. King, at right, the president joins in singing 'Sweet Home Chicago' during the In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues concert in the East Room. Participants include, from left: Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews, Jeff Beck, Derek Trucks, B.B. King, and Gary Clark, Jr."
"In Afghanistan, there was virtually no light inside the helicopter as we flew from Kabul back to Bagram Air Field after the president had met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. (For the photo buffs, this photograph was taken at ISO 6400, 1/5 second at f/1.4.) Flanking the president are General John Allen, Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker. Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor, is at left."
"'How cool is this,' the president said after he threw a football at Soldier Field following the NATO working dinner in Chicago, Illinois. I think he was especially excited to be on the home turf of his beloved Chicago Bears."
"We had just arrived at the helicopter landing zone in Chicago and instead of walking right to the motorcade, the president and first lady walked past their vehicle to the edge of Lake Michigan to view the skyline of their home town."
"'Anyone want to try a piece of my strawberry pie,' the president asked those at adjacent tables during a stop for lunch at Kozy Corners restaurant in Oak Harbor, Ohio. A young boy said yes and came over for a big bite of pie."
"The president grasps the hand of the secretary of state after his remarks during the ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, marking the return to the United States of the remains of J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya; Sean Smith, Information Management Officer; and Security Personnel Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, who were killed in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya."
"The president pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web as he greets Nicholas Tamarin, 3, just outside the Oval Office. Spider-Man had been trick-or-treating for an early Halloween with his father, White House aide Nate Tamarin in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. I can never commit to calling any picture my favorite, but the President told me that this was HIS favorite picture of the year when he saw it hanging in the West Wing a couple of weeks later."
"The president had just met with the U.S. Olympics gymnastics team, who because of a previous commitment had missed the ceremony earlier in the year with the entire U.S. Olympic team. The president suggested to McKayla Maroney that they recreate her 'not impressed' photograph before they departed."
"On a cold day, the president races down the Colonnade with Denis McDonough's children en route to the announcement that Denis would become the new Chief of Staff."
"The president genuinely enjoys being with kids. Here, he played a magnifying glass game with children during a visit to a pre-kindergarten classroom at the College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center in Decatur, Georgia."
"The president was visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, and others. When the president asked a question about the cityscape in the background, the sunlight lit up his hands adding another dimension to this photograph."
"Four presidents. One funny story. Presidents Carter, Clinton, Obama and Bush wait backstage to be introduced during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas."
"The president and members of the White House staff look out the window of Air Force One to view tornado damage over Moore, Oklahoma. After landing at Tinker Air Base, the president did a walking tour of the damage and met with those affected."
"The president called me over to pose for a photo with a young boy who had fallen asleep during the Father's Day ice cream social in the State Dining Room of the White House."
"Chuck Kennedy worked with the National Park Service to be able to photograph from this angle at the Lincoln Memorial as the president, first lady, and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter walked to the stage during the ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."
"A Ford truck was stationed near the podium while the president delivered remarks on the economy at the Ford Kansas City Stamping Plant in Liberty, Missouri. After the speech, I positioned myself near the truck guessing that the president might lean over the hood of the truck to shake hands with Ford employees. Instead he opened the passenger door and slid over to the driver's seat so he could get even closer to the employees."
"The president hugs former Boston Celtics Hall of Fame basketball player Bill Russell during a stop to view the statue of Russell before its unveiling at City Hall Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts."
"South Africans cheer as President Obama waits in a tunnel at the soccer stadium before taking the stage to speak at Nelson Mandela's memorial service. It was a long overnight flight to Johannesburg, a few hours on the ground in the pouring rain, and then a long flight back to Washington."
"When little kids are around, you never know what will happen. On Christmas Day, the president and first lady were greeting almost 600 active duty troops and their families at Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe (known locally as K-Bay). This youngster gave the president a look, which he returned."
"Ever the gentleman, the president helps the first lady off the stage after she thanked the White House chefs during the State Dinner for President François Hollande of France on the South Lawn of the White House."
"Despite the haphazard framing, I love the expressions on the president and one-year-old Lincoln Rose Smith as she learns to walk in the Oval Office. This moment happened when former Deputy Press Secretary Jamie Smith and her family stopped by for a departure greet and photograph with the president."
"Call it the Shake Shack slide. As he is wont to do, the president normally does a group photo with restaurant staff when he stops for lunch or dinner somewhere. After having lunch with Vice President Biden at a Shake Shack in Washington, D.C., the president asked me where he should stand for the photo. Before I could even reply, the president jumped on the counter and slid onto the other side. The vice president soon followed."
"The president sits for a 3D portrait being produced by the Smithsonian Institution. There were so many cameras and strobe lights flashing but the end result was kind of cool.
"This was a photograph that went viral when we posted it on Flickr. Lawrence Jackson captured a young boy face-planting himself onto the sofa in the Oval Office as the president greets his parents – a departing U.S. Secret Service agent and his wife."
"Lawrence Jackson captured the first lady backstage watching the president deliver remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 44th Annual Legislative Conference Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington D.C."
"Lawrence Jackson captured the president bursting out in laughter as he and the first lady recorded a holiday video message in the Map Room of the White House."
"I was moving around trying to capture different scenes away from the stage during the event to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches. When I glanced back towards the stage, I noticed the president and first lady holding hands as they listened to the remarks of Rep. John Lewis. I managed to squeeze off a couple of frames before they began to applaud, and the moment was gone."
"Chuck Kennedy triggered a remote camera as the president concluded a joint press conference with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan in the East Room of the White House."
"Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes needed some assistance with his wardrobe so the president joined Brian Mosteller, director of Oval Office operations, and Personal Aide Ferial Govashiri in helping to spruce him up."
"For presidential trips, I usually have another White House photographer accompany me so he or she can preset with the press and obtain angles that I can't, as I usually stay close to the president. Lawrence Jackson made this iconic image from the camera truck as the First Family joined others in beginning the walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge."
"The president's wave aligns with a rainbow as he boards Air Force One at Norman Manley International Airport prior to departure from Kingston, Jamaica."
"After returning on Marine One, the president walks from the helicopter to the Oval Office holding an umbrella for aides Valerie Jarrett and Anita Decker Breckenridge."
"We were at the G7 summit in Krün, Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the leaders and outreach guests to make their way to a bench for a group photograph. The president happened to sit down first, followed closely by the chancellor. I only had time to make a couple of frames before the background was cluttered with other people."
"'He was just excited to see you,' one of the salmon fisherwoman exclaimed after a salmon spawned on the president's feet at Kanakanak Beach in Bristol Bay, Alaska."
"The president participates in a group selfie in the East Room with the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team celebrating their victory in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup."
"This is the first time the same child has made two appearances in the Year in Photos. But it was difficult to not again include Ella Rhodes, daughter of Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, after the president lifted her in her elephant costume that she was wearing for a Halloween event at the White House."
"The president talks with Captain Vince Sibala during a tour of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) in Manila Harbor, Philippines. The ship was a former U.S. Coast Guard cutter acquired by the Philippines after it was decommissioned."
"With sunlight streaming through a window in the Green Room, President Obama listens to his introduction by Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was killed during the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Later, as he made remarks in the East Room, he began to cry as he recalled the day of the shootings; he called it the worst day of his presidency."
"President Obama reacts as his putt falls just short during an impromptu game of golf with staffers Joe Paulsen, left, and Marvin Nicholson after the U.S.-ASEAN Summit at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California."
"I had my eye on this youngster while President Obama spoke during a reception at the White House celebrating African American History Month. When the president started greeting audience members along the rope line, I bent down in front of the young man and captured this moment of the president touching his face before he too bent down to greet him. Afterwards, I tracked down his name, Clark Reynolds, and had the president sign a copy for him."
"Originally it was unclear whether I would be permitted to photograph the president meeting Prince George. But the night before, our advance team called and said they had gotten word from Kensington Palace that they would allow me access to make candid photographs during their visit. Afterwards, this photograph garnered the most attention but at the time all I could think was how the table at right was hindering my ability to be at the optimum angle for this moment."
"President Obama watches a virtual reality film captured during his trip to Yosemite National Park earlier this summer as Personal Aide Ferial Govashiri continues working at her computer."
"The White House was hosting South by South Lawn, an event based on the infamous South by Southwest event in Austin, Texas. Just before lunch that day, the president was checking out the setup from a window in the Oval Office before the gates were opened. 'Hey Pete,' he said to me, 'let's go take a picture with the LEGO® men.' And so we did."
"There was almost no light remaining at the end of the day when the president and first lady walked out to the South Lawn for a 'Fourth Quarter' toast to White House staff."
"The president was about to welcome local children for Halloween trick-or-treating when he ran into Superman Walker Earnest, son of Press Secretary Josh Earnest, in the Ground Floor Corridor of the White House. 'Flex those muscles,' he said to Walker."
"The excitement in his face says it all. Bill Mohr, 108 years old (not a typo), was the oldest living World War II veteran when he met President Obama after a Veterans Day breakfast at the White House. When Bill passed away, his family released a statement including this sentence: 'Meeting a sitting president was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for our father, who was a true patriot.'"
"Bruuuuuce! The president reaches out to shake hands with Bruce Springsteen in the Blue Room of the White House prior to the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony. I'm so happy for Bruce, having been a fan of his for almost 30 years during which I've seen at least 35 of his concerts."
"President Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan toss flowers at the wishing well after laying a wreath at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor."
95/95 SLIDES
Some Democrats fear that Obama reentering the picture would energize conservatives and move the party backwards in time—rather than encouraging new leaders to emerge with an eye toward 2020. But conservatives are energized, organized, and mobilized regardless of which Democrat stands in the public spotlight. This cautious logic replicates the same mistake that Obama made when he backed away as president from several tough fights with the GOP hoping his restraint would tone things down. It didn't. And Obama can help promote new Democratic voices.
Indeed, Obama came to the forefront in 2004—when former President Bill Clinton was out on the hustings campaigning, and Obama was given a spot on the stage at the convention that nominated Senator John Kerry. Given that Obama ended his term with high approval ratings and remains an admired figure within much of the electorate, he could use his standing to build support to check Trump, the most unpopular president in recent history. A vibrant party is capable of handling many voices, new and old, at the same time. Frail and depleted parties are the ones that can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
The last time Obama was too timid, the Republicans roared. His party can't afford to see Obama make that same mistake once again.
"Even a small dog can piss on a tall building" Jim Hightower
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