The Obama effect

 Yesterday

"He took it out of classified information ... He’s not supposed to be doing that," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Georgia. "He made a big mistake."

The comments followed an interview with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, released on Saturday, where Obama was asked about the existence of extraterrestrial life. He responded, "They're real, but I haven't seen them, and they're not being kept in ... Area 51. There's no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States."

Well, that's entirely possible. They don't tell the president everything, no matter how much a president might think differently.

Crucially, there was no indication in Obama's remarks that he relied on classified information for his assertion.

In a subsequent Instagram post on Sunday, Obama further clarified his position, stating, "I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!" He explained his belief in aliens stemmed from the statistical probability of life in a vast universe, while deeming visits to Earth unlikely due to distance.

Obviously he doesn't understand the possibilities, but the point is, he didn't release any classified information.

Today

How about we start with releasing the Epstein files?

Too far?

It's not fake.  It's not "out of this White House."  It's Trump's personal account.  All the previous racist shit he's said and done weren't a problem, I guess.

Bride of Chuckie is one of the most racist shits in the administration.

UPDATE 04:37 pm:  Hakeem finally found his red line.

Damn straight.

Obama has at long last realized the stakes

 

Markwayne is still a useful idiot for the Trump regime

They're going full bore on Obama now.  I'm guessing that's because the black guy as president is still a sore point for MAGA, so it's seen as their best chance to move MAGA off the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Rupar always puts the worst spin on the Gop in his clip summaries, so you have to actually listen to them.  His summary here makes it seem as though Mullin is saying Obama was in office in 2008.  He doesn't say that.  What's left off that last "Obama was in office" is that he repeats it happened in 2009.

At any rate, Tapper is right.

A bridge too far

Tulsi Gabbard has openly accused the Obama administration of launching a “years-long coup” against President Donald Trump in an attempt to subvert his 2016 election win.

Gabbard released declassified emails Friday and claimed that they reveal a “treasonous conspiracy” committed by former President Barack Obama and his officials over the investigation surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election.

  UK Independent

Trump peddled conspiracy theories about Obama, telling reporters the former president tried to rig the 2016 presidential election.

[...]

"Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response," Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, said in a statement.

"But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one," he added. "These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction."

"Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes," Rodenbush said.

The findings, he continued, were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.

Trump accused Obama, former President Biden, Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper of trying "to rig an election," adding without merit that "they got caught."

[...]

"This is like proof, irrefutable proof, that Obama was sedatious, that Obama was trying to lead a coup," Trump said Tuesday, appearing to mispronounce "seditious."

[...]

Special counsel Robert Mueller and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee — where Secretary of State Marco Rubio was a senior member — both concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win.

[...]

No serious investigation ever claimed Russia changed actual vote tallies.

  Axios

Marc Elias warned us when the crude doodle birthday card story broke that Trump is rattled, making him dangerous. I don't think we've seen the worst yet.

Democratic Party In a nutshell

 

Both make good points.  But, it's the Democratic Party leaders, strategists, and pundits who don't understand they're the party of the working class.  

And there's this...

Also, this is what Barack Obama got for his efforts:

So why do the pundits and journalists and strategists keep insisting that the Democrats need to move further right to win elections?

UPDATE 04/26/2025:

Seems Cory Booker's speech got Obama off the couch

Barack Obama just made some remarks that are starting to get attention for their stirring indictment of Trump’s lawless abuses of power. That a former president is expressing deep alarm about the precariousness of the rule of law under one of his successors is certainly big news.

Obama’s comments also offer Democrats a way out of the either-prices-or-democracy cul-de-sac that has flummoxed the party. What they underscore is this: Trump’s destruction of the rule of law and his imminent wreckage of the economy are actually the same story.

[...]He declared himself “deeply concerned” that the government is threatening universities, and “troubled” by the White House’s bullying of law firms.

[...]

Imagine if I had pulled Fox News’ credentials from the White House press corps.… Imagine if I had said to law firms that were representing parties that were upset with policies my administration had initiated, that you will not be allowed into government buildings. We will punish you economically for dissenting from the Affordable Care Act or the Iran deal. We will ferret out students who protest against my policies. It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me, or a whole bunch of my predecessors.

That’s all good stuff. But the key line that’s directly relevant to center-left debates right now was easy to overlook.

“People tend to think, eh, democracy, rule of law, an independent judiciary, freedom of the press—that’s all abstract stuff because it’s not affecting the price of eggs,” Obama said. “Well, you know what? It’s about to affect the price of eggs.”



[...]

Obama is also saying that Democrats should not necessarily let that reading of what “people” think constrain their approach to this precarious moment.

Indeed, a person familiar with Obama’s thinking tells me that he did intend to model an approach for Democrats to follow, that he sees the eggs-versus-democracy debate as a false choice for the party.

[...]

Trump has invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or IEEPA, which he says gives him the authority to unilaterally impose global tariffs in a national emergency.

But to justify that claim, Trump is citing … the trade deficit. His executive order on tariffs actually says our “large and persistent trade deficit” poses a “national emergency,” claiming it has hollowed out U.S. manufacturing while making us dependent on supply chains controlled by foreign adversaries.

This is a ludicrous assertion of power, and it’s almost certainly illegal. As Ilya Somin details, the IEEPA requires not just a presidential declaration of a national emergency; it also requires an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the nation.

[...]

In short, Trump’s lawlessness and his economic destruction are the same story: The former doesn’t just enable the latter; the two are inextricably entangled with each other.

[...]

[R]ule of law, stable institutions, and constraints on everything from bureaucratic corruption to dictatorial abuses of power facilitate economic prosperity and flourishing. Dramatically erode those things, and the economy very well may follow in short order.

[...]

There’s a way to make the argument that Trump’s legal and constitutional degradations are terrible for the material conditions of working people—this is what Obama was signaling—and to stand up for the rule of law while simultaneously favoring robust institutional reform.

[...]

Obama has opened the door for [Democrats to push back.]

  New Republic

I'm glad Obama is finally making forceful statements, but I think the door was opened by Cory Booker.

O'Bama in Pittsburgh

Wow. Kudos.

Where's Obama's endorsement?

Social media is awash in outrage and/or surprise that Kamala doesn't have Obama's endorsement.  There's a reason for that. Calm down. She'll get it.

Despite his endorsement, Biden’s delegates are free to vote for anyone at the convention. Nothing stops another Democrat from throwing their hat in the ring and challenging Harris at the convention. This prospect is why party leaders like Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Barack Obama have not yet endorsed her. Harris would be the overwhelming favorite, but if there is a contest for the nomination, it must be legitimate and transparent. Having a process in place helps Harris because it denies the theory that party insiders handed her the nomination.

  Dan Pfeiffer @ Message Box News

They're already saying that anyway. Also, she's got most all the other important endorsements in the first hours of Biden stepping aside.

For years, the idea that she was a weak candidate was an article of faith in some corners of the Democratic Party. Today, she is on the cusp of ascending the nomination without a challenge.

[...]

Another candidate would have to start from scratch. [...] There were some rough moments in public during the first year of the Administration. However, when most people weren’t paying attention, she became one of the best messengers in the party on the issues that will define this campaign — abortion, democracy, and the rule of law. Additionally, a prosecutor running against a convicted criminal appeals to the schadenfreude of the public.

The last three weeks have been incredibly awkward for Harris. She handled them perfectly, without a single leak from her operation. It was very impressive and a sign of real political deftness.

[...]

The Democratic coalition is more excited than it has been in a long time. TikTok is flooded with pro-Kamala content. Democrats raised over $50 million in the first eight hours after Biden’s announcement.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 02:01 pm:

Clyburn is worried - so is Obama

Rep. James Clyburn said on Sunday that he was “very concerned” about President Joe Biden’s standing with Black voters as the general election nears.

The South Carolina Democrat, making an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said he had spoken to the president about his fears, which were based around the failure of the White House to translate its legislative accomplishments into positive voter sentiment.

[...]

“This president is keeping his promises,” he added, but “people keep focusing on the one or two things he did not get accomplished.”

[...]

The timing of his comments are notable too, as Biden is set to head to Clyburn’s home state on Monday for a speech at the Mother Emanuel AME Church.

  Politico

Gee, James, if it hadn't been for your pushing Biden on black voters in 2020, we may have had a younger, more progressive president to be looking for a second term in 2024, and one who had black support.

President Biden's principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Sunday that Biden and former President Obama are "aligned" in their thinking about Biden's re-election campaign.

Fulks' remarks come in response to many high-level Democrats, including Obama, expressing concerns that Biden and his re-election team are too complacent about the threat of losing to former President Trump.

[...]

The latest alarm was sounded Saturday in a leak to The Washington Post about a private meeting in which Obama pointed Biden to a different way to approach his re-election campaign.

[...]

Obama had also pushed Biden to consider moving his political operation outside of — and beyond — his White House advisers.

[...]

Trump continues to dominate polls, both in and out of his party.

[...]

Biden has recently seen some of his lowest approval ratings yet as he bids for another four years in the White House.

[...]

Asked whether the campaign would see Obama's warning as a wake-up call, Fulks said they have "been awake" since Biden announced his re-election campaign and have "put innovative organizing programs in place to begin to communicate with voters on the ground."

  MSN

They should have been communicating with voters on the ground for the past three years.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Obama in Georgia

His standup routine isn't half bad.

But did he think about using the name "Uncle Joe"?  Might have better used another name.  Or maybe he intended it.  I don't know.

BTW, do you wonder why you haven't seen Trump in Georgia campaigning for Walker?  It's because they don't want him there.

Declassified my ass

In response to Harry Litman, to be fair, this was Trump's OLC we're talking about.

At any rate, no one outside crazy MAGA would believe that Trump's "work" involved 27 boxes of classified documents.  Besides, his home was the west wing.  (And per his statement about taking "work" to the residence: that's not Mar-A-Lago.  That's clearly the west wing.) 

Also, whatever his work was in regard to classified information, what is his reason for keeping the documents after he left office?  After he was asked to return them?  After he was subponaed for their return?

Jesus, these people.

Furthermore...

[T]here are certain materials that presidents cannot classify and declassify at will. One such category of material is the identity of spies.

Another is nuclear secrets.

  Atlantic

I wonder if DHS might have heard of Trump's possession of nuclear secrets because some CIA agent in another country learned that another country had come into possession of them.  And I wonder if we'll ever know.*

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

Also...

It was done because of Hillary Clinton's emails/server.  Sad!

*UPDATE:

Obama's latest memoir

This review is an unvarnished look at Obama's new book.  (For which he was paid along with his wife's memoir $65 million.)  I haven't read either.  I'm not intending to.  But this review rings true with what I've seen and read about Obama's time as president, and I can't help but wonder who the hell thought "A Promised Land" was a good idea for a title, given the historic association of the term.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Evil incarnate

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Somebody was watching

And it burned.

So upset he doesn't even know where he lives...

Apparently he's forgotten he moved to Florida.

Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project:  "And boy is Donald Trump pissed.  He got his bell rung tonight by Barack Obama. [...] Tonight he stripped the damn bark off of Donald Trump, and it is driving the president out of his damn mind."

Obama's speech.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

THAT was a powerful speech

Obama at John Lewis funeral

I still can't forget that Obama paved the way for the shit we're going through because when he took over from war criminal George W Bush, he said, in essence, "Forget about it."  Don't look back, move forward, he said.  If you don't address the evil behind you, it will overtake you again.

On the bright side, Trump wasn't there.  The other ex-presidents were (except Jimmy Carter, who sent something to be read because he's way too old to risk going out into public spaces).  Trump wasn't at either Elijah Cummings' service or John McCain's.  I've been a little obsessed about the idea that in the future, if we have one, it will be hard to stomach having Trump attending things with all the other ex-presidents.  Maybe he simply won't.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The tan suit!

Petty P.O.S.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Ditch Mitch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Monday that former President Obama should have held back from criticizing President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling Obama's critique "a little bit classless."

  The Hill

OBAMA "a little bit classless"? Has McConnell looked in the oval office lately? Or the mirror?

Also, did he really say "should have held back"?

"I think President Obama should have kept his mouth shut. You know, we know he doesn't like much this administration is doing. That's understandable. But I think it's a little bit classless frankly to critique an administration that comes after you," McConnell said.

Yeah, that's more like it.  "Keep your mouth shut."  What class.

"You had your shot. You were there for eight years. I think the tradition that the Bushes set up of not critiquing the president who comes after you is a good tradition," McConnell added.

[...]

Obama, during a private phone call, characterized the administration's response as an "absolute chaotic disaster" that stemmed from a "what's in it for me" mindset.

[...]

Obama has rarely weighed in on policies or plans developed by the current administration since leaving office in 2017. But he took a veiled shot at the administration on Twitter late last month, saying there still was not a "coherent national plan."

"While we continue to wait for a coherent national plan to navigate this pandemic, states like Massachusetts are beginning to adopt their own public health plans to combat this virus––before it's too late," Obama tweeted.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.