{UAH} BARRACK OBAMA THE CURRENT LIABILITY

Obama fatigue a Biden campaign concern in fight against Trump

by Emily Larsen

 

 May 22, 2020 09:49 AM

 

 

Former President Barack Obama's efforts to elect Joe Biden president so far have been limited to a mid-April livestream endorsement. The restraint is likely deliberate.

“You can't overuse him,” said Democratic strategist Moe Vela, who worked as a senior adviser for Biden when he was vice president under Obama. “It has to be done methodically and strategically and wisely.”

While Obama had a rocky downturn in public opinion polls in his second term, he is now viewed favorably by a majority of voters and a beloved figure in the Democratic Party, to the point that insiders fantasize about his wife Michelle Obama becoming Biden’s running mate despite knowing she has no interest in the job.

Biden has long leaned on his connection to Obama as an argument for his candidacy. Black voters’ trust in him, due in part to being Obama’s vice president, led Biden to win big in the South Carolina primary race, sealing his path to the nomination.

But Biden was regularly mocked by conservatives for being unable to secure a primary endorsement from his old pal, and Obama and Democratic insiders were reportedly eager to harness the former president’s power on the campaign trail to help Biden transition from primary to general election mode.

"His appearances — whether they are virtual, media interviews, social or digital videos, sending emails, and later at in-person rallies — are going to be a great, a tremendous asset to the Biden campaign,” said Democratic strategist Eric Koch.

Coronavirus pandemic challenges that restrict traditional on-the-ground campaigning aside, the lack of overt Obama campaigning shows that his power lies in using it to energize and target the types of voters who Biden needs to win the election.

“You use Obama very wisely and strategically at the appropriate times in this campaign to win back that Obama-Obama-Trump voter,” Vela said about the looming fall fight between Biden, a 36-year Delaware senator, and President Trump.

Much of Obama’s usefulness lies in his restraint, so when he does say something, it is particularly newsworthy.

And it does not have to be an official campaign event to be effective. Obama criticized the Trump administration and the Department of Justice for pardoning former U.S. national security adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn in a call with 3,000 supporters earlier this month, a size large enough that Obama likely knew it would get leaked.

“I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do,” Obama said of the election in the call. “I’m not on the ballot — but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this happen.”

His comments in the call, and in a commencement speech during which he took veiled swipes at Trump, were widely covered in the news media.

“Every time Barack Obama speaks,” Vela said, “it’s a reminder we can go back to that beautiful tradition in our nation where our president conducted him or herself with dignity.”

Obama’s use in this way so far aligns with the Biden campaign’s stated strategy of trying to make the 2020 race a referendum on Trump rather than a choice between two candidates, a campaign style made much easier when Hillary Clinton, who was widely disliked, is not at the top of the ticket.

“Hillary being the nominee gave a lot of those Obama-Obama-Trump voters an excuse and a rationale to go to vote for Trump. That excuse and rationale is now gone,” Vela said.

Another reason why the Biden campaign does not need to parade Obama around could be because Trump is doing a good job of reminding voters about the previous administration by pushing the “Obamagate” theory that top officials improperly abused power after the 2016 election to damage him, the incoming president.

“It does fuel up Trump’s base,” Vela said, but “it’s also fired up our base.”

“Obama is already helping the Biden team reach voters — while also living rent-free in President Trump's head,” Koch said.

EM         -> { Trump for 2020 }

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