Former President Barack Obama's plan to keep the Democratic Party in power failed, and the coup of President Joe Biden from the 2024 race, which Obama helped orchestrate, backfired. Now, he's concerned that he might have dug his own grave.
Obama's biographer revealed the former president's top concern following President-elect Donald Trump's win after playing a significant role in Biden's ousting and Harris' downfall.
Obama "has been and remains extremely concerned and nervous about his historical legacy," says David Garrow, author of the 2017 biography Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama.
"That has certainly taken a big hit with Trump once again triumphing," he continued.
Garrow fired shots at Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, accusing them of "talking down" and being "tone-deaf and clueless." He appeared to blame them for Harris' 2024 loss.
"People do not want to be talked down to, no matter who they are," he said, adding that the effect was so significant that Obama's legacy could decrease to "Bill Clinton territory."
The 71-year-old writer said that even before Election Day, he suspected that the way Obama and other Democrats spoke to voters in a condescending tone— especially toward black men— "was self-defeating to the point of backfire."
Last month, Obama accused black men of "coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses" for not showing the same "energy and turnout" for Harris as they did for him when he ran for president.
"I've got a problem with that because part of it makes me think — I'm speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that," Obama said.
Michelle Obama said she did not expect any man to "fully grasp how vulnerable" the election is to women.
As for what the Obamas will do now that their plan failed, Garrow suggested they would disappear from the political scene "to hang out with celebrities on Martha's Vineyard."
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