On Sunday, President Obama admitted to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he didn’t think President-elect Donald Trump would win, citing “the bubble” as the reason for his initial doubts (via Mediaite):
President Barack Obama admitted in an interview with ABC News’ This Week that he didn’t see Donald Trump‘s victory coming because he was living in “the bubble” of the presidency.[…]
The second thing is the bubble is the bubble,” he continued. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job staying in touch with the American people. But at a certain point, you can’t help but lose some feel for what’s on the ground because you’re not on the ground.”
The president also said that there’s no doubt that he’s a much better president than he was at the start of his first term. Yes, the bubble of the presidency can be isolating, but it’s the liberal bubble as well. Obama is a card-carrying member of the progressive Left that dominate America’s urban areas. Those bubbles were appallingly confident that Hillary Clinton would trounce Trump. The Huffington Post and other outlets had Clinton’s percentage of winning in the 90s. When that came crashing down, they were rendered immobile. Then, the temper tantrums began to erupt all over…liberal America.
That last point about not being on the ground could be used to critique the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign. Both entities never ventured in the Middle America. Clinton’s campaign didn’t even bother to reach out to millions of white working class voters, who have been in an economic torpor for years. The Democratic Party has pretty much atrophied in these areas. How big is the disconnect between rural and urban? Well, you have technology executives from the San Francisco bay area telling Middle America that they’re are racist, they have no Internet, and they live in a “shithole.” If they want jobs, they have to cater to the progressive agenda and make life like how these snobby, self-righteous social justice warriors are used to since they live in the areas that matter. That’s all wrong. Every. Bit. Of. It. For starters, this is rural America, not North Korea. They have Internet and other amenities of life. Regardless, if that’s your mindset of America’s working class, then yeah—the bubble totally blinded you from seeing Trump’s rise to the presidency. And your snooty disposition only added fuel to that fire.
For Obama, however, it’s sort of a weird position to take regarding the bubble. In 2012, Obama actually went to the areas Clinton ignored, made the case that Romney wasn’t on the working class’ side, and won the election. Granted, he didn’t win these counties, but did just well enough to avoid the Republicans from running the table in these areas. The fact that Romney couldn’t connect with the working class, viewing him as the man who would fire them, also helped. On the character question relating to whether a candidate cares about people like me is where Obama pummeled Romney. And at the end of the day, in these areas—having a guy who you think will protect your job is all that matters. Of course, these folks got burned. It's why millions of Obama supporters voted Trump. But the fact that Obama, who took an aggressive approach in campaigning for Clinton, did a zero hour stop in Michigan might have been the red flag that an upset was waiting. In the end, Trump won Michigan.
Right now, progressives love the bubble and find comfort being huddled in it while they lick their wounds over Clinton's defeat. The Left's inability to heavily criticize Clinton’s terrible campaign is proof that they’re not going to venture outside of it. For Obama, he sure knows about the bubble too. It cost his party over 1,000 seats in Congress, the state legislatures, and the governorships combined. That’s quite the legacy.
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