I fear that backing off the big issues (especially Medicare for All) are exactly what Hillary did, and we know what happened to her. Americans are looking for dramatic change, most especially in health care (where a little container of my eye drops carries a $400 price tag). Health care prices have gone insane, and the threat of doing away with private insurers might just shake the industry to its senses.
1
If democrats present themselves as the status-quo (SQ) party, then, how will they appeal to people who are tired of the SQ, and who would then see them as “more of the same,” “do nothing” etc? Trump is already calling them that!
And, how is this going to get out even democratic voters themselves, say, younger people who see no inspiration or real change?
They (Obama and the “Bs”) seem to be attacking Warren and Sanders, but what exactly is their message? Why are they running for office?!
I still don’t understand why Buttigieg, Biden, or any of the others are running for President!
And, what has changed in a year? Obama, according to this article, seemed ok with Medicare for all last September 2018. In 12 months he thinks it’s not “inclusive” politics?!
How is advocating for better healthcare for all not inclusive?!
And the claim by this article that he’s not intervening, seems inconsistent with reality! Is it a coincidence that Buttgeige has supposedly risen in polls in Iowa as Obama seems to have headlined a campaign to criticize Warren? It seems like a well-orchestrated campaign to me. You have all these sudden new entries into the race, all critical of one candidate, media people nearly all critical of her etc.
bottom line is they can do what they want, the danger is they’re essentially doing the Debbie Wiseman again! We know how that turned out!!
2
Translate...”lose their private health insurance” to “great healthcare held by union members(fire, police, teachers & skilled labor).”
The backbone of the Democratic Party would rebel if they were forced to take Medicare for All. Most have nearly free healthcare...many states even cover the monthly Medicare fee.
BTW Medical professionals will be paid the Medicare reimbursement rate which currently doesn’t cover their cost of operating. My physician said every time a Medicare patient walks into her office she should just hand them $20...that’s what she loses when she treats them. Yeah, but the best & the brightest will still sign up for lifelong debt for the privilege of working long hours.
“Good for thee but not for me”!
1
Perhaps if Obama had jailed a single Wall Street CEO, or reinstated Glass-Steagall, or ... , more people would think that government works and not perceive a need for someone like Trump. What Obama says to assuage the wealthy donors he talks to should not be described as "centrist" because the center of the population distribution is not wealthy.
2
Sure, we should all hang onto every word from a man whose presidential actions belied his rhetoric so consistently that a desperate voting public elected a man who actually brought change - although not to the benefit of the majority.
Go write your memoirs, Barrack, and leave the political arena to the true agents of hope and change - Sanders and Warren.
2
Re: "“The average American doesn’t think that we have to completely tear down the system and remake it,”...
Ayuh. That's why Trump won in 2016.
Absent California, Trump won the popular vote. Think about that, Barack.
Obama is compliant. He fits himself to the attitudes of those around him. He needs to get out more.
3
I totally had enough of whimpy Obama's do nothing, non-confrontational uselessness during his presidency. We need to ditch bank-favoring folks such as him, and bring the heel down on banks and corporations. The Dem elites need to be deposed as a first step.
4
Go fire some more drones at poor people in developing countries. We'll handle M4A.
3
Obama was not a perfect president - too little experience, too detached from the political trench warfare, too timid at times. However, he had much against him being the first non-white President, a poor economy, and a Republican party in Congress that vowed to make him a 1 term President. His accomplishments could have been more, or less, depending how he traversed those issues. But, he was honest and cared about Americans and the American constitutional democracy. He does know the American electorate, as does ex-Pres Clinton, and his instincts are correct. America is still a center-left to center-right country and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is risking losing it all on the alter of political purity. For a starving person, half a loaf of bread is better than none. For a war victim, a cease fire is better than a final treaty, for a homeless person, a roof over their head is better than none. Trump in the WH should be enough for any democrat or moderate independent to vote for whomever is the Dem's nominee. However, it may not be. Given the electoral college, Dems WILL need those independents, moderate Reps and disaffected Dems to beat Trump. Quoting the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail: "Choose Wisely" democrats!
20
Obama and the Clintons have always disdained progressives and their bold ideas for solving America's important problems. However, Sanders and Warren are immensely popular because someone is finally trying to do something, in the best tradition of the Democratic Party, after years of inaction or backsliding. How about Obama speaks out about locking children up, against weakening environmental rules, against continuing useless wars? How about letting us know what he is doing to make our voting systems better? Stop putting his thumb on the scales in the primaries.
4
The current Democrat candidates on the left have already set their views and won't be believable if they try to move off of them. The more centrist candidates are weak for another reason - they don't create excitement. The impeachment overreach fiasco won't solve the Democrats problem. Trump will win!
The Right is not going to change.
The Left is not going to change.
The center has to choose a side.
If you spend your time telling the center why the Left is bad, instead of saying why the Right is bad, then you are talking the center into voting for the Right, and their "president for life," Trump
1
Barack Obama, the champion of Change, who so successfully preached Change and won two presidential elections, is now acquiescing. He advocates against ideology! It is a wrong idea. Democrats are nothing without "ideology".
3
I marched in DC in January, 2017, coming all the way from Wisconsin on a bus. We marched with 499,000+ others. We came from having a president with brains, class, passion.
Little did we know what we were in for. Breaks my heart. Probably better we didn’t know on that sunny DC day.
Speak up, Barack Obama! Our country needs your voice - maybe more than ever. And with the mess you stepped into in 2009, that says a lot!
4
I would love to see Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders elected, but Barack Obama is right; there is a need to be realistic in America. And, by the way, Medicare For All won't be free. It isn't free now and never will be. Moderation will win the next election for us Democrats.
3
Our democracy is going up in flames, leaving the entire world in ashes, and Obama decides to use his political influence to criticize the Democrats? Really? Why has he stayed "on the sidelines" while everything this country stands for is being destroyed, emerging only to criticize Democrats while remaining so quiet regarding the band of thieves, traitors and oligarchs seizing our country as we sit and watch? His Neo-liberal credentials are even more evident now, as he gives lip service to democratic ideals while raking in his Netflix profits. What a wasted opportunity when he could be supporting the "Hope" and "Change" Democratic candidates are fighting for...
6
Honestly after watching how much Trump has done to damage the country I'm pretty disappointed with how little Obama did to improve it. Clearly he had a lot of power at his disposal that went unused.
9
President Obama might have accomplished a lot more if it weren't for one particular pesky problem, the fact that Mitch McConnell set out from Day 1 to make him a one term president. And when the Republicans assumed complete control of Congress, they blocked Mr. Obama's agenda at every turn.
4
Anyone paying attention over the past 40 years can see why progressives have gained ground over the past three years. As Saez and Zucman have shown recently, income and wealth inequality began their meteoric rise in 1980, with tax cuts for capital and corporate deregulation. There was some initial Democratic pushback in the 1980s, but when that failed to win elections in 84 and 88, Third-Way Democrats got religion and shed their economic justice tradition but emphasized cultural issues. That has clearly aggravated our economic disparity and led to the worst recession since the Depression of the 1930s. The technical fix of 2009 restored equilibrium, but did not alter the structural inequalities, which are now worse than before the Great Recession. Young Democrats and older ones who never acquiesced to the neoliberal agenda have concluded that continuing down the path we have taken since 1992 is a dead end. The programs advocated by Warren and Sanders and their millions of supporters are not — despite what Bernie says — revolutionary; this is a renaissance of Democratic values founded on New Deal ideals and programs, updated for a new century.
8
The sainted Barack Obama belatedly asks for civility and a different focus after years of maligning anyone who disagreed with his policies as — wait for it — racist. Spare me...
I suspect the real reason for his change of hear in that Durham and Barr are closing in on his admin’s giving Russia four years of post-election ‘flexibility’ and using the tools of power to destroy Donald Trump.
Not only are the comments from so-called centrists here condescending but they are totally out of touch with the reality that a moderate candidate is less electable than a centrist.
5
Yes, progressives are never condescending.
1
@Ben I am referring specifically to the comments on this article, Ben. You like tilting at windmills because you seem more inclined to make personal attacks instead of presenting a cogent rebuttal to the arguments triggering you here.
2
Have some of you not heard of the work Former President Obama is doing in Chicago at the Obama Foundation ?
1
@T What's your point? Because of this work I have to accept as gospel truth whatever falls from his mouth? You sound like a Trump supporter.
1
Reading what passes for progressive political acumen makes me realize why people support Trump. You really are intolerable people.
2
Obama was a good President , made us proud to be America . Always a good moral husband and good Father Intelligent.honest even a great sense of humor . How can anyone want more than this great man is ?
5
I never thought I'd say this but Obama made me realize that, unless a progressive is nominated, I will not even be voting in the general election. I will not prove conservative Democrats right, yet again, by holding my nose and voting for a Democratic nominee who lacks the ambition and moral fiber to advocate for the changes the U.S. desperately needs to make, not only for the benefit of its citizens, but for the benefit of the entire world, which counts on the U.S. to behave like a responsible global citizen. I used to hold in contempt voters who refused to compromise. Now I see that to accede to the demands of conservative democrats that we continue down the destructive path that both parties have led us down for the last 40 years. Thank you Obama for removing the scales from my eyes.
5
President Obama was generally an overly cautious president. He asked for less stimulus than he could have. He wilted when it came to holding Wall Street bankers to account. He took forever making a decision about the Keystone XL pipeline. He blinked on Syria. He was very passive in relation to the Israel-Palestinian conflict (a lame duck UN vote abstention was the boldest thing he did). And his administration left a lot of the working class electorate dissatisfied enough to vote for Donald Trump.
Wondering how left the Democratic nominee should be is a valid concern, but how much should Democrats listen to a probably still overly cautious ex-president?
4
Although I am to the left of the current Democratic Party, I share President Obama's fervent hope that Democrats will end their political fratricide and rally behind their nominee.
He or she could be from the center (possibly Biden) or from the left (possibly Warren). The pressure has generally been on the left to rally behind the centrist. Given Elizabeth Warren's rise, one can't help but wonder how centrist Democrats would react if she wins the nomination? Will they still heed their call for unity?
It is necessary to bury the hatchet to defeat Trump. But several issues remain unresolved much to the chagrin of us leftists. Concentration of wealth in the hands of the few is one of them. A few days ago, I read in the New York Times that Representative Ilhan Omar gets the cold shoulder from her party whenever she tries to discuss the plight of Palestinians. With the Trump Administration recently approving illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, presumably Democrats like Omar will be expected to remain silent about the silence within their own party. So much for the party that pretends to stand up for human rights.
For the sake of defeating Trump, I understand the need to sweep differences under the carpet. I fear, though, that these unresolved differences will tear the party apart in the post-Trump era.
3
@Nav Pradeepan No one is out for blood. You are naively accepting the myth of the rabid progressive. Young voters and rust belt voters will decide the 2020 election. In 2016, younger voters favored Bernie Sanders in the primary and voted for HRC in the general. Rust belt voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin favored Sanders in the primary and Trump in the general (because Sanders was not on the ballot obviously). A centrist Democrat is LESS electable than a "radical progressive."
1
Obama is a referee. Referee what?
Coming down on Elisabeth and Bernie?
I feel confident Warren and Sanders will not support a $1.5 nuclear triad renewal. Hideous!
I feel confident Elizabeth and Bernie will eschew huge speaking fees from the big banks and Wall Street after their presidency such that they would not even think of a second home priced at $15 million.
Barack wants to elevate his legacy, but his actions do not justify an elevated position among great progressive presidents like FDR and LBJ. Obama - at best a C-.
Elisabeth and Bernie are the real deal, Barack. You had your chance and you crossed the line, after eight years, I rate you a middling Republican-lite president.
Go, Bernie, Go, Elizabeth!
6
It would be unwise to disregard President Obama's counsel on political matters. I will support the eventual Democratic candidate over Trump regardless, but I think he's right that what people crave right now is a bit of normalcy, a departure from the circus of mendacity and nastiness that has characterized the present administration. Our body politic needs to heal before it can be put to the hard labor of larger progressive goals.
6
@M. I see that Democrats share at least one trait in common with Trumpian conservatives: blind deference to the leader. This election will be decided by voters who favor a more progressive candidate: younger voters and rust belt voters: voting blocks that favored Sanders in the 2016 primary. Rust belt voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin voted for Trump in the general because Sanders was not on the ballot. A centrist Democrat is less electable than a centrist/conservative Democrat. Just because Obama says otherwise, in the face of common sense, doesn't make it so.
Can't we just have Obama run again??? Please.....
6
The voters who will decide the election in 2020--younger voters and rust belt voters--will not rally around a centrist candidate. Younger voters overwhelmingly favored Sanders in the primary and rust belt voters, who had supported Sanders in the primary, voted for Trump in the general election. If you think a centrist will be more competitive than a "radical progressive" in 2020, I have a bridge to sell you.
5
This from the person who thought he knew better about the public mood to promote the Clinton coronation and asking Biden to sit it out? He should have stayed out of it then and should stay out of it now. Let it play out.
8
This is our moment, not Obama’s. We must act now to save our planet.
Obama had a score of 67 out of 100 by the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). Obama was one of the few Democrats to vote for Cheney's energy bill. The bill exempted fluids used in the natural gas extraction process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from protections under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and CERCLA ("Superfund"). The bill also gave incentives to companies to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama’s administration approved the leases for BP’s deep sea oil drilling - and we know what happened next - the largest catastrophic oil spill in recent memory.
Warren has an LCV score of 99 out of 100, which is the highest of any person running for President, now or in the past. She promises to place a moratorium on fossil-fuel drilling on public lands and waters, including the Arctic National Refugee, in her First 100 Days. She is also opposed to fracking.
6
President Obama should be applauded for doing this because the purity political scene is very much out there. I know a man in his twenties who will not budge from his ideological “purity.” A few weeks ago the NYTs published a similar article about Obama trying to break through the cancel culture. I sent this young man the article to read. His reaction was to ask what Obama has done for the last X amount of years, and that he takes speaking fees etc. etc. , so he was cancelling all that Obama achieved - even the presidency! He completely dissed the former president for failing to pass his purity test and completely shut his mind to the message he was conveying. This was particularly upsetting because his message was directed exactly to people like him: the radical purists.
7
@Ozma Don't conflate this with cancel culture. The one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. There is a large number--probably the majority--of Democratic and Independent voters who favor a more ambitious candidate. Equating a preference for a more progressive candidate with cancel culture is dishonest.
2
I'm an old liberal and I've played this game the Democratic establishment likes to play on their base for too long. It has gotten me and I'd suggest most Americans living in the middle class or below - nowhere! Obama was the change you can believe in candidate. Guess what - there was zero change unless you're among the 1%.
The status quo politics of the corporate centrists (be they Democratic or Republican) delivered us Trump because people mistrust politicians who have promised everything and delivered nothing! People are seriously disheartened with our elected politicians because they see time and time again that 99% of them serve the 1%.
I hope the younger generations will step up and do something to support themselves! Every election there is enormous pressure from the establishment (most of them career politicians who suck up to the wealthy donors) to please this time just 'go along to get along' to win.
It has never worked out - just look at the facts! Income and wealth inequality are reaching new levels! Everyone but the wealthy realizes most of us have lost ground over the last 40 years.
Voting for the lesser of two bad choices has got us (you) where we are today! Vote your conscience! Vote for someone who advocates for you! And if they don't deliver, don't vote for them again.
Obama is a clever and charismatic politician on the surface. But, he didn't deliver as others have pointed out.
10
Once again a NYT writer depends on two unnamed democrats to cast doubt on Joe Biden's campaign that is staying atop most of the polls in key states. Check out FiveThirtyEight for complete polling results that have eluded the NYT since it lost Nate Silver. So who do the two unnamed dems support. A fact no set out in the piece.
4
This is nuts and bolts on-the-ground roll up your sleeves politics. Bill Clinton knew this, Obama knew this. The media ignores this.
6
Obama should go home and stay quiet. The Democrats in the race can handle what is going on and potential voters don't need his advice. Is he going to tell us again that he will take it as a personal insult to his legacy if we don't vote for this or that candidate (it was Hillary in 2016)? Just go away please.
6
Advice from the worst president in recent history.
2
GWB - who started an illegal war based on lies, a war that killed and maimed hundreds of thousands and destabilized a region - was better?
3
I like Mr. Obama as a person and as a President despite some pretty glaring opinions on policy.
I also think he's wrong here. The primary is where these discussions must be had if we're going to build a coalition that will deliver the kind of government we want. Those discussions can't take place if all we're allowed to talk about is what a tall drink of buttsauce Mr. Trump is.
Democrats need that young progressive enthusiasm, and we also need the stalwart moderate wing. Only way we get 'em both is to talk it out—party machine whinging about "circular firing squads" only impedes that effort.
You cannot just pick a "safe" candidate and expect them to prevail. This approach failed in 2000, 2004, and 2016. It will also fail in 2020 if it's tried.
7
History will look upon President Obama as one of the greats - governing with pragmatism and empathy and genuineness. True, it took him a long time to realise that the GOP was bent upon his destruction come hell or high water and would do nothing for the betterment of the American people (because it would give Obama a 'win' and jeopardize their electoral prospects). But surely he cannot be faulted for seeking compromises - even with his avowed enemies - for the greater good.
True, also, that many on the left accuse him of not doing enough; in hindsight, no doubt he could have been more aggressive in pushing a progressive agenda - but he was somewhat handicapped in his first term by the so-called 'blue dogs' (who were all later wiped out in the mid-terms). No great loss as most, if not all, of this Southern wing were actually Republicans in disguise and hindered progressive action.
And who would have thought it possible that the American presidency would be so defiled by the present occupant when it had been lifted to unprecedented heights of respect and admiration by the former . . .
3
Maybe we should listen to the first black president. A man who won the White House. Twice. Maybe... just maybe his advice will be useful for Democrats to win it again.
6
@Nicholas Molina What does his race have to do with this. This is nothing more than an argument from authority. A long-recognized fallacy that you will do well to familiarize with.
1
Except for the fact that he was the first black president, which in itself an accomplishment, his presidency is unremarkable. The credit for ACA should go to Nancy Pelosi and the credit for CFPB should go to Elizabeth Warren. Granted he signed them. The next president should focus on reversing the 2017 tax cuts and enhancing ACA to cover all. Furthermore, push through the legislation to provide first two years of college free. Put Wall Street back in the cage. Finally, put Defense budget on diet. We need a person who can take a stand on these issues than the moderates who are neither here nor there. We need someone like Warren who is much better than anyone else in pushing these agendas. Else, Trump is better in the sense that by 2024 he will destroy Republicans.
5
I stan Elizabeth Warren, and always will. She embraced Medicare for all because it is the morally right thing to do. Unfortunately, I think it will be her downfall.
The math behind M4A is staggering, with terrifyingly huge numbers - so says this extremely far-left liberal. I can only imagine how they sound to independents and moderates. Compared to the more moderate, much cheaper plans put forth by other candidates, it sounds pretty hard to defend. It’s too big a leap for this country.
It doesn’t take much to tear down a woman in politics. I fear M4A will be too big a lift for Elizabeth.
2
Instead of attacking each other, the Democratic candidates should focus on Trump. When they attack each other, that gives ammunition to the Republican party.
6
Politicians are used to compromise but you cannot compromise with atmospheric physics and more centrism will doom us to a very inhospitable planet.
Did people miss the news in 2014 from two independent teams of scientists that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is irreversibly retreating?
The planet isn’t waiting for us, it’s moving into gear.
7
This election is not about ideological purity at all. It is about electing someone President who can be trusted to work for the good of the people at large rather than for the corporations and the top 1%. If voters aren't finally offered that choice, they WILL burn the house down again. And they should.
2
The Obama bashing, from Dems no less, is astounding. Obama was a winner, a two-time winner. Let’s listen to him.
8
@Positively
That might be what you're seeing in the comments, but this piece is about Obama bashing Dems.
2
Obama is conducting himself for the writers of history while it should be he making history and writing it.
The Impeachment aside, Trump will likely win in 2020. The last thing we need is another out of touch centrist Democrat as the party’s candidate. Does anyone really think Biden has a chance at beating Trump??? My grandmother can out debate Biden. Biden is so naive to think that he will be able to work with the Republicans if elected, they’re going to eat his lunch. We need either Warren or Sanders, preferably Warren to win the nomination. Even if they were to lose in the general election, they will hopefully push the out of touch Democrat centrist party elite out of the of the party. And yes, Warren should tear down the system because the system is clearly not working (except for the billionaires). It’s interesting how the NYT keeps advocating this centrist Democrat approach... Did anyone pay attention in 2016?
If Obama cares so much, he should have done something while he was President.
6
This sounds like some self soothing rationalization. We all thought Obama would be much further left than his performance as president turned out. He was certainly an effective president in many ways but capitulated to the right too much. Maybe he has some guilt about keeping Larry Summers and Tim Gietner as his financial advisers as they continued the wall street money grab.
But the world has changed since he was president. The middle has sunken into the bottom especially economically (thanks in part to his policies although he did help save the auto industry). The disparity in income has just continued and that is the root of many of our problems.
So saying the middle is the place to be may make him feel better but it is not where we need to go as a party.
We need to be bolder and more progressive to save the country and lead the world.
6
There are more urgent issues confronting our nation and world than enacting a progressive agenda. It is necessary to address the divisions preventing us from confronting climate change, hunger, homelessness and violence. Joe Biden has the potential to soothe and heal our nation after the current impeachment process in the same way Gerald Ford served that function after Watergate.
5
@J. Charles
I'm going to vote for someone who will fight for my country, not "soothe" it.
4
“He cares first about electability, whatever is second is a very distant second.”
A lot of Democratic voters agree. Among likely voters I talk to, some feel ok with Biden's positions, but feel he is not a strong candidate. Others feel that Bernie & Warren fire up the base, but fear that the GOP attack machine will scare moderates away from them.
There's the rub. Which strategy will beat Trump? Even those of us who want big change realize that a loss will result in no change.
4
@Rob Mis
I don't know why people are so afraid of what Republicans will say. Republicans don't really have to say much at all. The Democratic establishment is out there every day undermining Warren and Sanders with Republican talking points like "purity" and "extreme left" and "crazy" and "unrealistic".
The Republicans are on the golf course with their wealthy friends, laughing about how the Democrats are doing their work for them.
4
@Rob Mis The Republicans will vehemently oppose whoever the democratic president is. Have you been paying attention?
1
I think Ms Warren has great policies that would undoubtedly improve the lives of millions of Americans. She is also completely unelectable with those policies.
10
@Melbourne Town
Wrong. The voters who will decide the 2020 election--younger voters and Rust Belt voters--favored Bernie Sanders--a "radical progressive"--in the 2016 primary. When faced with the choice between Clinton and Trump, Rust Belt voters chose Trump because he presented himself as an economic populist. As you may or may not know, Clinton lost the general election because she lost these Rust Belt states.
@Melbourne Town
THANK YOU! Couldn't agree more. Will you please speak to my friends??
I find it odd how quickly some folks will dismiss Obama's advice. What does this guy know about winning presidential elections? What makes him think he understands swing voters or coalition building? :)
11
Former president Obama was a disappointment to me. I remember when he put cutting Social Security on the table by changing the inflation calculation and how he did not include the Public Option in his health insurance remake.
Further I recall wars in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and the coup in Ukraine on his watch and the continuation of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I will give Pres. Obama credit for the Iran agreement and making an attempt to bring some change in health insurance but who can afford it?
5
@e.s. The last time I looked, none of us are perfect!
My support is to Sanders, but both he and Warren are seeing the full weight of the Establishment, Obama, included, trying to crush them.
Sanders could have beaten Trump in 2016, but for the Establishment having preordained Hillary as the nominee, and greased the path for her, and the media ignored Sanders until his support was so huge they could not ignore him, but the coverage was mostly negative or sneering.
I recollect that Obama campaigned on "Hope and Change". When Obama shortchanged ordinary Americans on change, they lost hope and over nine percent of Obama voters, voted for Trump. They wanted some change.
I know Sanders will beat Trump if he gets the nomination, though the Establishment and its media are working overtime to mention Sanders as seldom as possible, and with as much negativity as they can get away with.
In 2016 Sanders won 23 primaries including Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Sanders will enthuse unlikely voters to vote, and turnout will be huge.
A centrist will generate zero excitement.
If a centrist is shoved down our throats, because the Establishment loads the dice again, I would not vote for Trump... but I would not vote for a safe, status quo supporting centrist either.
With obscene, colossal and growing inequality where the richest .1 percent take in over 188 times the income of the bottom 90 percent.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
The time for REAL CHANGE is NOW!
President Sanders 2020!
A Future To Believe In!
8
@Lucy Cooke if only the majority of American voters felt the same as you. Democracy is a pain sometimes.
1
What we have here is a perfect storm of (now considered) super moderates versus progressive zealots that is destroying any hope a Democratic Party coalition that could powerful enough to seize control of the White House.
As an Independent I am grudgingly accepting of Mr. Trump's second term because Trump is doing
well economically and nationalistically, whereas
the Democrats cannot govern responsibly as seen by the House inaction and incompetence since the 2018 election.
3
They’ve passed bill after bill that the senate will not take up. What do you propose they do?
2
@BearBoy
"Trump is doing well economically"
If only the rest of the country was.
3
Listen, there will be NO progressive policy at all if Trump is re-elected. Combine that with the general public’s distaste for things like universal health care (right away at least), and you have what amounts to a reasonable take on how to do the most good in 2020.
Bernie and Warren supporters may be upset by this, but they don’t matter in any numbers in the states that matter in 2020. My hope is that we get a candidate that isn’t as far out on issues as they are, and then when Bernie supporters see that candidate on stage in a debate with Trump, all will become clear. Unity.
7
@Ted
It's interesting that "unity" is always defined as progressives getting on board with a centrist candidate and never the other way around. And "purity" is always attached to progressives who don't want to vote for another centrist, but never to centrists who will never, ever, ever vote for a progressive.
2
I’ll vote for a progressive or anyone else who is against Trump. It seems like progressives are the ones who are insisting on having it their way. Moderates just want Trump gone.
2
Too little, too late. The context is completely different. The idea that civility and a centrist is needed to win in deeply divided country that is closed to listening is a deeply flawed idea.
The country is screaming for someone who stands for something, standing from the future...NOT standing in the middle. Being in the middle is being nowhere.
To get the voters on the margin, get rid of the labels. Focus on the details and communicate, communicate, and communicate. Healthcare for all will be a centrist thought. It’s slowly getting there. There’s a year to get the message out. It’s a clear distinction from the 70+ times (and counting) that the Repubs tried to repeal ACA.
Meanwhile, if Obama wants to help, stop pontificating and get down and dirty. He got Trumped on Russia. Get out and fight for turnout and the votes.
6
Let’s stop advocating for a plan that will never, never, ever, ever become law. M4A may be the best plan for America, yet when it has zero chance of ever becoming reality we must adapt, dare I say be realistic. Let’s remember that politics is not a contest for generating the best ideas (unfortunately), but rather generating the best ideas that fit the political realities of the moment. I would never criticize M4A as an idea because it’s exactly what I wish we had. I do criticize some “M4A or bust” activists who are delusional about how politics in America actually works after primary ends. If we shoot for the stars, we’ll end up with nothing real for the American People. If we aim to get the most we can get, the American people will end up with so much more than they have now. If you stay extreme, stay hard of heart and mind, we will lose an opportunity for dramatic improvement that real people are relying on us to deliver. I think it would take a lifetime to personally apologize to each American who needed our help but didn’t get it because of our failure to improve our health “care” system. A failed perfect plan will not heal people, nor will it console them.
2
@C.S.
"I do criticize some “M4A or bust” activists who are delusional about how politics in America actually works after primary ends."
The real delusion is that everything begins and ends with presidential elections. Nothing happens if people don't demand that it happens. That's how politics works. When people start demanding universal health care, and vote accordingly, that's when we get it.
We will never get there by coming out of our houses only every four years and voting for yet another status quo candidate. And yet that seems to be the advice here.
3
The Obama administration did the bidding of Wall Street, Big Pharma, and the Medical-Industrial Complex. Exactly what paved the way for Trump.
6
Obama is going to peck around the edges but you're not going to see him take any positions or stand behind any candidate. He didn't do that for Hillary, so why would he for the motley crew of Democratic candidates that are out there now?
1
Let's not kid ourselves - Obama is one of the wealthy elite now. That's who he is and that's who he surrounds himself with. I doubt he knows much about the lives of average people anymore, so he's not qualified to speak about what we want.
If only he'd go out and talk to real people and not just wealthy donors. Get in the car and drive through America. Talk to people. See how they live. Then get back to us.
6
Amen! All the progressive ideas being proposed are worthless without reclaiming the White House and the Senate. It will take years to undo the damage Donald Trump has done so far. Let's get back to where we were and then we can talk about where to go. And let's bring the independent voters with us.
5
As it is commonly written; "The arc of the universe always bends to justice", but Obama took a turn to the right as he yielded to the bulls. So what if we lurch leftward? Is it a fear of Communism or Socialism because you have all been taught they are bad? When are you going to stop passively absorbing Television and think for yourselves?
Jesus was a Socialist who fed the hungry, healed the afflicted, taught everyone to forgive everyone, and essentially told everyone to do what is right in their minds and not what is wrong. Was he so bad?
And what about Communism? I'm very liberal on many issues but still hold a firm belief that Communism is a loser as an economic system that enslaves it's people and barely grows an economy to keep up with population growth. But then again, Capitalism does much of the same but does provide for our new generations. Unfortunately, now our system of Economics is approaching Communism as the Republicans grow ever closer to Russia and their ways.
So, should we perhaps adopt much of the ways of Jesus in our conduct and put some reigns on unbridled capitalism to find the best form of social prosperity and justice?
I'll be making lots of left turns in my life to make sure I always get home where I can still call America the home I was born in and love.
2
I love Obama, but I think he’s forgetting why we all voted for him in the first place. It wasn’t because he promised to keep things the same, it was because he promised us “hope” and “change”. The Democratic Party offered “not Trump” and “keep things the same” to voters in 2016 and lost. Why do people think that message is a winning strategy in 2020? I think the winning strategy is to offer voters “hope” and “change”, just like Obama did in 2008. In this case, the best candidate to do that is Elizabeth Warren. She’s offering amazing, concrete plans that would really benefit most voters. They’re tangible and hopeful and real. So, let’s make this election about something more than “not Trump”. “Not Trump” is important, but that’s not what will win this election. Hope and change and big ideas will!
6
One of the most important speeches Obama made during his presidency was on the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act of 1964 at the LBJ Library. He acknowledged LBJ's remarkable domestic achievements; the civil rights act, the voting rights act, the fair housing act, Medicare, Medicaid, Headstart and Foodstamps, among many others. He did not dwell on LBJ's political genius or his prodigious political experience. LBJ began his political career by running a Texas new deal program for FDR. He went on to serve 12 years in the house, 1 year in WWll at the age of 40; he served as the senate minority leader, the senate majority leader and the vice president for 3 years before he was thrust into his sudden presidency.
Mayor Pete is in his second term as mayor of South Bend (a city with a population of 100,000), he has never won more than 18,000 votes in a single election. He could not find the WH, SCOTUS or the Capitol without a GPS. Somehow, Obama failed to note any of this.
4
Tone is a word that needs to be inserted into this discussion. The sneering and 'clever put downs', the insinuations that are used are meant to appeal to mob mentality and for pumping up the adrenaline. This is all aimed at the camera or for the multides of internet platforms. obama is merely asking for some decorum and productive conversation. i think it's still too early to shut out those voices and discussions. Warner nor Sanders plans would kick in instantly. If they would couch this in a time frame..a real discussion of pros and cons of where this nation might actually expect itself to be in 2024 could allow for some very meaty debates to come . I hope to see real points made in the dem debates in the time prior to a dem nomination. Obama should use his voice. His tone is mellow yet always couched in forceful words. He can speak for dems.
3
I remember when I was so excited about the Hope and Change candidate. I remember how I felt on that day in Nov. 2008–so good, so happy to hope again.
And then the presidency happened. Two terms of a complete dud. We got lofty rhetoric and thoughtful passages but the policy of a hand wringer. He wasn’t an LBJ (leave alone an FDR), and so painfully meek.
Never have we seen a president go so quickly from hero to zero. With his current activity, he is proof positive why we need Bernie Sanders.
Mr. President, when did you sell out so hopelessly and completely? Why not just sit this out, Mr President? I hear HRC needs company for her party with Mr Kissinger.
6
If there's anything the 2016 election showed us, it's that status quo middle of the road keeps voters home. Radical change is not only what this country needs, it's what this election needs to get people out of their house.
Obama's "Hope" message was great, but how about some real hope? Hope for equality, hope to be able to send your kids to college, hope for getting pulled over and not getting shot, hope for being able to go to the doctor if one gets sick.
Love you, Obama, but I think you're wrong. Times have drastically changes since 2016 and even you are now a political dinosaur.
6
Obama is absolutely right. If you can’t tell that Trump is an existential threat to our nation and that literally any Democrat would be better than him, then you aren’t paying attention. Stop pretending to be holier-than-thou progressives when all you are really doing is bolstering Trump’s chances of re-election. There’s nothing progressive about that.
6
What is Obama's legacy as our president from 2009-2016? I voted for him twice because all my friends urged to do this. I didn't have any idea about him. All my friends worked for the Federal Government told me that he was a better candidate than Hillary Clinton. I wasn't sure but I have been voting since president Truman and I always tried to cast my vote during the presidential elections. I am independent and I don't belong to any political parties. I voted Obama because I wanted to have a black American as our president.It is about time to have a black American president in our country. Is this an affirmative action decision? I met him once in a dinner party with a few black members of Congress in June , 2007 in a seafood restaurant not too far from the U.S. Capitol. I asked him if he was planning to be a presidential candidate and he told me no at that time. He looked like a very capable senator so later I voted for him twice. The most important factor for me was that I wanted to see a black American to be our leader in the White House. After Caroline Kennedy and Ted Kennedy both endorsed Obama in 2008 and that probably was a major factor to help Obama to be elected as our first black American president. Later Caroline Kennedy became our ambassador to Japan. Did I made the right decision? Was Obama a great president? If Hillary Clinton was elected as our president, I feel America may be better today and there is no chance for Trump to be our president.
Having voted for Obama twice only to have to criticize his policies for 8 years, I no longer respect his views.
I think his policies and actions and in-actions resulted in Trump.'s selection by the electoral college.
Think of the Flint lead poisoning from drinking water disaster where he lied to the citizens that "their children would be just fine".
Think of his policies where no banker went to jail for the Great Recession.
Think of his auto safety failures that resulted in tens of thousands deaths and serious injuries.
See
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/opinion/weak-oversight-deadly-cars.html
Etc. etc...
6
Losers don’t get to determine policy. Winning is the most important thing. It’s a lesson the Republicans have learned well. It’s the lesson progressive idealists need to learn before it is too late.
4
@Ben
The lesson, if you care to learn one, was 2016. My definition of an idealist is someone who believes another lackluster centrist candidate who stands for nothing and offers nothing is the ticket to success.
2
@Ben Apparently you missed the 2016 election. Remember how HRC lost the Rust Belt and consequently the electoral college? These Rust Belt voters favored Bernie Sanders in the primary but switched to Trump, who presented himself as an economic populist, in the general election, giving the presidency to Trump. Your assertion just doesn't fit the facts--although it is a well-worn argument. We hear it every four years.
1
People who believe that Bernie would have won against Trump in 2020 are rewriting history. To me it is utterly incredible. Trump and the GOP would have immediately and easily attacked Bernie over and over again as a crazy communist who would steal your money and it would have worked. Bernie would have gone down in flames. And women would have a hard time supporting him once his early writings on sex were publicized. And black voters never supported him. So many things wrong with that alternate view of history. Look up McGovern. Bernie would have done worse.
1
Sometimes I wonder if Warren and Sanders are moles. Are they incapable of keeping their eyes on the prize. We need a democratic win. That’s all we need right now.
2
@Cathy Mac You are accepting uncritically and in spite of contrary evidence the assertion that Joe Biden or some other uninspiring centrist is more electable than a progressive candidate with credibility. How and why did Trump win your home state in 2016? Exactly.
2
Mr. Obama, I give credit where credit is due and criticism when needed. I had a personal stake in your Presidency. Instead of standing up for the principles supporting a nation of Free minds, I know about having suffered for decades from government intrusion, you knew about as evidenced by your attempt at covering up with your brain research initiative, you failed to intervene on my behalf. I also now implicate some in the Democratic party with having responsibility in the murder of my most vital witness, my dad. The party imprint is all over my long life from Congressmen to your "Friendly" TV industry. Calling me a Devil was a very effective isolation technique, but the fact remains, you Democrats are just as ruthless and unprincipled as the Military favored Republican party since the 1860's when they fought slavery only to become present day masters.
You failed to fight for me, you failed to fight for the principles I fought decades for in observation of Americans Constitutional, moral, and human rights,.You failed to fight the obvious dangers of Hate and Anger that Trump was and is now. You failed to protect yourself. So why should we take your advice?
In your favor, you were "No Drama Bama". You should have been more public leading a secret government. I won't tear it down. It will tear itself down. You simply presided over the process. Yes, you are "No Drama Bama". What we needed was a hero.
3
Presidential Election victories:
Barack Obama: two out of two.
"Progressives": um...well, maybe that Roosevelt guy in 1932, although he later interned American citizens. Or LBJ, well, no. There was the whole Vietnam thing.
Um...McGovern? Ted Kennedy? Jackson? Dean?
So, none. Ever.
Listen to Barack Obama if you want to win.
4
@Bumpercar
Um... Kerry? Hillary Clinton? Two of the last three losers were weak moderates with no populist appeal. And Obama didn't run as a centrist, he ran on hope and change... unlike Biden, Klobuchar, and Mayor Pete. That's all far more relevant than going all the way back to McGovern.
And when did Kennedy, Jackson, and Dean run against Republicans as the Democratic nominee?
Your points are stretched extremely thin, and have no bearing on 2020 in any case.
3
@J.C. Kennedy, Jackson and Dean couldn't even get the nomination. That's how popular the twitter progressives are. McGovern did and won one state. Go find a recent Pew poll -- most Democrats describe themselves as moderate.
"hope and change" is a slogan. Not a declaration of progressive policies. Read the article. Barack Obama is telling you how to win, and it isn't by running left.
Yes, some centrists lost but some won. On the other hand NO progressives won and all lost. I prefer winning.
I didn't just go back to 1972 -- went all the way back to FDR to find a win for you guys.
I supported McGovern, Kennedy and Dean. I learned my lesson. It's the time to be pragmatic -- swing voters will decide this election, as they always do (by definition). More Trump is too big a risk.
Sorry, but this is reality.
1
President Obama should spoken out much, much earlier, then candidates could have debated, given more thought to their proposals, and might have brought more balance to a party platform that supported a progressive healthcare plan for all over time. But we're where we are now, and should let our candidates continue with their proposals and we voters will decide who and what is best for us.
As a footnote, I'm on Medicare and it is a blessing. All Americans need something like it. It is truly a lifesaver.
5
I agree with Obama. The Dems must win a sweeping victory over Trump and his complicit Republicans and gain complete control of the Presidency and Congress. They must do it with a moderate Progressive candidate who can heal America and inspire our country to our better angels. I suggest Obama, FDR, and JFK as role models. Pragmatism should take priority always over ideology. In a diverse
country like America there must be coalition building and compromise to achieve the progressive policies that we desperately need to meet our many challenges from healthcare, climate change, social and income equality, gun violence, voter suppression, and world leadership with idealism and alliances restored. Our goals should be ambitious but to achieve them will require great leadership skills not an ideological purity that will damage the possibilities for their success.
8
All of these articles fretting about Warren and Sanders being "too far left" enrage me.
The policies that Warren and Sanders are proposing are policies that ALL of our democratic allies around the world enacted years and years ago. In this newspaper, even Republican commentator David Brooks said that given a choice between Trump and Warren, he would vote for Warren. He doesn't like her policies and he wouldn't like it, but to elect Trump (or cause Trump to be elected) would be unthinkable. OBVIOUSLY.
Why is it the job people of this country who believe in health care for all, dealing with climate crisis and financial justice to YET AGAIN stand aside for a "less radical" candidate?Remember how well that went in 2016?
I look forward to a day when the National Popular Vote and Voter Choice allow us to ditch the good ol' DNC and GOP for good and vote for the candidates we want vs. the candidates that are shoved down our throats by the party elite on both sides.
Let's be crystal clear where these "worries" about the party going too left are coming from: it is no accident that Obama was raising his concerns in a room full of wealthy Democratic donors. Or that billionaire Bloomberg feels the need to step in to the race. Or that Deval Patrick, current managing director at Bain Capital feels the need as well. It's the wealthy who are nervous about Warren and Sanders and that makes me even more committed to supporting them.
12
The sad reality is that Obama, by not doing enough for main street in his first two years and by focusing instead on a contentious health care debate , which could have waited until a second term, helped to give us Trump. So while I agree that ideological purity is problematic, I can't support a centrist who doesn't understand the urgency of addressing climate change and income inequality.
5
I just love listening to President Obama talk. He's smart, kind, hopeful and inclusive. All the things trump is not. I've always loved listening to Mr. Obama, and look forward to his return to public speaking!
7
@Paula
If by public speaking you mean speaking to a group of wealthy donors about diverting their money away from progressive candidates and causes, you got your wish.
1
I really wish he could convince his wife to run. She is the person who could thread the needle and the best hope of winning the Senate because the turnout for her in states like Georgia would be huge. I understand that she doesn't want to be president and I understand that under normal circumstances we should resist these families holding onto power but I feel in my bones that the one person who would undoubtedly beat Trump and turnout voters in big numbers in key Senate races is Michelle.
1
Sigh. If President Obama had only been as eager to take on the right, as he always is to take on the left.
From the catastrophic losses in state legislatures, disastrous negotiations with Boehner, and the 'blame no one' restoration of the same economic system that led us to ruin in 2008, our good man is always most concerned with being reasonable.
FoIlowing G.W. Bush, having inherited disastrous wars and the Great Recession, the Democrats had the populist mantle to make sweeping changes to this country, if President Obama had been willing to be direct that popular anger. To his personal credit, maybe, he did not employ the pitchforks but put them back into the shed. And the Tea Party picked them up and bled him and us with it and now Trump is laying bare the fact that it is the exercise of power, not reasonableness, that matters in politics.
5
Obama has a short memory. Today he's a centrist—and that's how he governed—but that's NOT how he ran in 2008. Listen to his speeches from that primary! He sounds a lot more like Bernie Sanders than Mayor Pete. Today Obama sees policies that would help ordinary people as a repudiation of his legacy—which prioritized his donors and his own electoral prospects—and they are. We know who he really thinks we should serve—the 1%.
4
In the absence of one perfect leader that is expected to check every box, why is it not obvious to campaign on the team a candidate would bring to restore good government? What prevents a young moderate like Buttigieg from campaigning with a commitment to include a cabinet with posts for the experience of Biden, Warren, and Sanders? Or honestly even a commitment to offering Secretary of State to someone like Obama? Is there anything in your constitution that prevents such a bold out of the box move? For what's at stake at this critical juncture, think of the unity such a move would project in matching the right person to the right post. Don't let Trump run against one individual, make him face a high caliber team to soundly banish him from the Oval Office. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It takes a competent team to run any government, why not campaign on the team you'd bring to the table?
3
“The average American doesn’t think that we have to completely tear down the system and remake it,”
The average American is not even tuned into this horror show. Couple that with a lack of critical thinking and we've got the current crisis.
It will take more than impeachment and removal to reverse our nation's course.
1
However the democratic primary plays out, one side is going to need to swallow its pride and vote for the nominee. The side the wins is not responsible for other folks not voting.
2
He should get back on the sidelines. He was elected in 2008 to be a change agent after years of right- wing mis-rule. Instead of the pendulum swinging left as it should have, Obama stayed to the right and sided with Wall Street over Main Street, a move which ultimately ended up radicalizing desperate voters, who then went for Trump. Obama bears a great deal of responsibility for the election of Trump. His neoliberal policies left out the lower and middle classes. He should sit it out quietly now - he caused enough trouble.
4
You want proof Obama is right? Elizabeth Warren is running a first rate substantive campaign with an excellent ground game. Much of the energy from the more activist wing of the party is enthusiastically behind her. So after looking to top the polls she's mostly stalled while good old Joe Biden running a terrible campaign and problematic to begin with still holds the lead in most tellings nationwide and the 37 year old centrist mayor of South Bend has been rocketing up. Take a close look at who flipped districts and how in 2018, the majority of the country is A ) utterly sick of Trump ,yet B) not even close to endorsing radical change the way anything too progressive will be inevitably framed.
4
You can run on change and progressivism all you want - address the enviornment, make the tax code fairer, tighten gun regulations, expand access to affordable health care, raise the minimum wage, etc........just don't do Medicare For All, and please stop promoting ideas that sound very, very much like open borders, because it will not sell in the states we need to win.....that's all President Obama is saying, and he's 100% correct.
4
Our country does not need a pragmatic centrist as President, like Obama.The problems we face are too critical. Climate change is a an existential threat. The level of economic inequality is dragging us down the road to authoritarism and oligarchy. Our heathcare system is riddled with waste, price gouging and profiteering and not delivering the results our people need. Our young people are in record historical educational debt. We don't need a hope and a prayer. We need action. We need a President with a vision, with leadership, with the will to solve these problems without worrying about ruffling the reactionary feathers of the GOP. We don't have time for baby steps, we need to make giant strides into the future. Our children's lives depend on it. Warmed over Obama is not the answer. We need a full throated progressive who will fight for our future. Anything else will lead us down the path to further weakness and defeats. It's not just beating Trump that is needed. Trump will defeat himself as he is now doing during the impeachment process. Don't be cynical about the American people. When was the last time they had a real leader dedicated to their future.
2
Among the many achievements in the eight years of the Obama administration, winning elections is not even in the top one hundred. While Dems won the Executive twice some 1000 democratic seats were lost in total, and they could not seat their judiciary picks. Stay out of the Primary politicians ALL and roll up your sleeves for the general or be quiet.
2
Obama failed to stem the tide of Republican’s controlling the debate. He got schooled by McConnell and spent 6 of his 8 years doing nothing because he wouldn’t put up a fight. Sorry, but health care is still a mess, college is absurdly expensive and inequality is still wrecking our democracy. Obama failed to change the course of the nation. He was no FDR or even a JFK.
4
Excellent advice from President Obama. Let's hope the Bernie or Busters, Jill Stein voters, and "woke progressives" listen to it.
5
Great point Obama, but unlike Obama play hardball in addition to laying off the high ground. This campaign is war, and you don't win wars by being right and you don't win wars by being nice
2
Obama had us dream big --- and then he gave us 8 years of thoughtfulness. Three years later, and he's telling us not to dream big... pragmatic perhaps. Or he could just be honest and tell us to vote for Grandpa Joe because it's his obligation to do so.
What happened to Michelle Obama saying, "Go high." Instead, we should be declaring, 'Dream low."
Disappointed in one of our nation's great Statesmen.
2
Bernie would have been in office if Hillary and her sidekick Wasserman-Shultz hadn’t rigged the DNC primary. America is ready for real hope and change.
4
Too bad Obama can't run again. I bet he wishes that he used the bully pulpit a lot more than he did.
This man is utterly clueless about the political ecology of the era we live in. It’s remarkable how incapable the mealy-mouthed centrists are at reading the writing on the wall. Drastic change is necessary and inevitable. There is no center path, it’s truly THE moment where we must choose socialism, or else fascism will be foisted on us by in a terminal push by the ruling class to preserve capitalism. An outcome which, to be sure, the NYT and St. Obama would accept over a Sanders administration.
3
@Tom
OK, Che. Who should we listen to for political advice? The first black man ever elected President? Or another revolutionary/barista who’s probably never even been elected to anything?
1
Our great public servent Ralph Nader was hounded for calling out Obama for what he was in 2008, at the height of his branded driven hysteria - a corporate "uncle tom".
Obama. Socialism for the rich cats on Wall St. but rugged individualism for the poor on Main St. Afterall, he beat out Republicans for Wall St. Donor dollars in 2008. It's obvious where his loyalt lies.
Yes, Obama knows his place. He is a careerist and an embodiment of Neo-Liberalism but with a happy face.
As he and his wife do his circuits of collecting staggering speaking fees from corporations, the Obamas have become fabulously wealthy. They enjoy "cuddling" with the Bushes, a war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and haunted and maimed the survivors. Yes, the Obamas are the elites and have more in common with the Bushes than us common folk. If his most recent please to "stay the course" and not elect a so called "radical" wasn't telling enough, then I don't know what would be.
Half of America is struggling to survive. . . remember that.
2
The man is right. A good dose of common sense is what this country needs. Progressive sweeps of change should come from Congress. Let's change the makeup of the Senate. And really dominate the House. Despite what we think and all Trump's egregious actions, the President does not hold all the cards for change. That's why they turn to executive privilege.
None the less I'm glad the more progressive voice is getting louder. They are saying things that need to be said and heard.
1
A lot of commentators here express dissatisfaction that President Obama could not advance more progressive policies. There is a reason, the votes are not there. The President boldly passed the ACA, only to lose the House, Senate and a large number of governorships. Progressive voters talk a big game but don’t show up to vote. Imagine if Gore or Hillary Clinton had won election because progressive voters actually showed up. We’d be a lot further along in implementing many of the policies progressive seek. Instead, it’s one step forward and two back as progressive voters seem bent on demanding policies that stand no chance of passage in the first place. If you want to see progressive policies implemented, play the long game. The Republicans have been doing this for 40 years and have remade the country exactly as they sought to do from the start. Even Reagan would be surprised at what they have put in place through years of consistent voting by conservatives. Warren’s proposals around Social Security are so unrealistic that they will give voice again to Republican calls to privatize the whole thing.
5
@Maya EV
You're absolutely right about the long game. The thing about the long game is that you have to set the agenda, talk about the agenda, fight for the agenda, and convince people to vote for the agenda. That's what Republicans have been doing for 40 years. The Democratic establishment has done nothing of the kind. They've been too weak and afraid and "bi-partisan" to fight back.
The things the Republicans have done to this country were considered "unrealistic". Trump's chances were considered "unrealistic". The Tea Party was mocked as too extreme right-wing... until they started winning elections and changing policy.
The only way to be a realist right now is to recognize how far we've gone off the rails and what we have to do to get back on track.
4
Glass raised. The social justice mafia is quick to call out infractions, beat drums in parks and chant slogans. They'll march at the drop of a hat but when it comes time to vote, they trot out false equivalencies ("Clinton, Trump...they're all the same") as reasons to stay home. Or they vote for fringe candidates who even if by some miracle were elected, couldn't lead their way out of a paper bag.
I favor a particular candidate who I'd love to see elected, but I know they're not going to be elected even if they're the Democratic nominee. Move too far from the center and it will be Trump 2020, and that is the ONE THING that is most important for this country to avoid. So, I am voting for the person who is most likely to capture the largest number of Democratic and undecided independent voters, and who can beat Trump. It's that simple. I will save my personal ideals, which include massive taxes on billionaires and providing single-payer insurance for all, for the 2024 election.
6
@Fiddlesticks
What happened to yes we can? Seems it’s now “no we can’t “
2
Thank God that we have Obama standing up for corporations and the military industrial complex, we can’t have radicals who want pie in the sky radical things such as providing health care ( not junk insurance) to all citizens. After Obama was elected on “Hope and Change” I was so proud that he asked Citigroup who should be in his cabinet and chose most of them.
138
@steve
Steve - Obamacare was ice in the sky
@John Lonergan This type of "progressive" would really rather lose so he and his friends can sit around saying how corrupt and compromised everyone else is -- while more kids are put in cages, more voters suppressed and fewer people have health care.
22
@steve And made sure no Wall Street thieves were punished.
5
I'm perfectly fine with the party moving in a progressive direction. But if Democrats can't beat Trump in the Electoral College, what's the point?
6
@Mark McIntyre
a centrist won't beat Trump in the Electoral College,
but Sanders will!
A Future To Believe In!
President Sanders 2020!
1
I am perplexed about President Obama’s advice: “Focus on defeating President Trump, ditch the ideological purity and the “cancel” culture.” I haven’t seen that any of the current candidates weren’t focused on defeating Trump. And I haven’t heard any of them advocating ‘canceling’ anyone, with the possible exception of Donald Trump. And as for ideological purity, just exactly what are primaries for, if not testing ideas to see which of them gains traction? We still haven’t seen what Democrats will vote for, as articulated in the positions of candidates. Healthcare, yes, but there is a broad spectrum of views, from M4A immediately, to gradual phase-in, to a less robust ‘public option’ to a squishy ‘improve the ACA’. So a hair-on-fire warning about impending doom seems premature. As for taxes going up, it appears a similar narrative is emerging, with a range of views from wealth, income, corporate taxation rates that return us to the 1950s, all the way to a mere repeal of the 2017 Trump tax cut.
One thing seems clear: Obama clearly likes the status quo before Trump. Every ‘friend’ of Obama quoted for this article, and for other recent articles, is an upper 10%-er, and more likely a 1%-er. Does he ever talk to ordinary folks any more, the kind he socialized with 30 years ago? Perhaps if he did, he might find that folks have bigger problems that require solutions more robust than a cautious incrementalism.
145
@Ockham9
Re: cancel culture, he’s referring to voters.
6
@Ockham9 To be fair, Obama probably never actually socialized with ordinary people. He went to Harvard Law after all!
7
@Ockham9
Unfortunately. Obama was a smile and a speech...
decent, but he only gave the impression of bold ideas and caring.
In reality, there was little of substance that he had the courage to fight for, and next to nothing that he used his ability for soaring oration to promote for the common good.
6
We have Pres. Obama to thank for Pre. Trump. Seriously. Go away.
19
@PGB No, we have the voters to thank and the electoral college.
17
@PGB
No, we have the Russians to thank for Pres. Trump
2
@PGB
Actually, we have Hillary Clinton and the DNC to thank for DJT.
No Clinton, no Trump.
1
He's wrong about the party moving too far left, but he's most certainly correct about ditching ideological purity. No one is perfect after all, and we'll still need to compromise with the centrists (not necessarily the GOP) to create a proper ruling coalition.
138
@Allen Oh of course, all that compromise that worked tremendously for Obama and Biden. That certainly has nothing to do with the conditions that brought us Trump. There is no compromise with the GOP and if you're not willing to fight then NOTHING will change.
12
@RSK Democratic centrism indeed is NOT one of the factors that lead to Trump.
5
@Allen
The only purity test I hear is from the center: If you actually promise to do big things for the 60% of the population that works for a wage, then somehow you are a threat.
The purity of taking no position may sound safe, but it's not leadership. Americans want a leader for president not a timid follower.
Lesser evil can't win elections. Those that will vote for evil, for for greater evil. Those that oppose evil want the greater good.
Lesser evil is pathetic, sniveling in a corner evil. Who will vote for that?
4
Much as I admire President Obama, times have changed. Bigly. Change We Can Believe in won't cut it. We need Change We Can Count On to address looming, enormous problems. And it's the Progressives who have a plan for that. Let's roll up our sleeves.
184
@teach
These "plans" don't count for anything if you don't get elected. And, sad to say, the current crop of "progressives" stand no more chance of being elected president in 2020 than McCarthy or Dukakis did in the recent past. (Or TR did in 1912, running as the very first Progressive party candidate for president.)
The nation needs to get rid of Trump...desperately. Sadly, all sorts of evidence makes clear that a lot of people just won't vote for a Socialist Jewish Vermonter or a former Harvard professor. Those are the people who voted for Trump and Reagan, as well as for Obama and Clinton in many cases.
Ignoring that political reality will mean another term of Trump and his extremist policies (and several more Supreme Court justices -- at least one and maybe two). The nation just can't afford that, if we want it to look anything like the democracy we all want.
Was the nation better off under 8 years of Obama and 8 years of Clinton, or under 8 years of Bush 2 and 4 years of Trump? Please ask yourselves that question.
8
electability is paramount. any candidate who cannot appeal to a wide cross-section, should voluntarily step down. i disagree with obama in one respect that though his view is critical, the result will still be diversionary to the fundamental climate crisis.
1
@teach
Thank you, Pres. Obama.
I suggest candidates focus on Trump's democracy threat.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If reelected, Trump will destroy democracy, as we know it.
I suggest using the "Democracy" song of Leonard Cohen.
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
-------------------------------------------
(Perhaps the Times can discuss the "Democracy" song).
1
I always had a sense that President Obama squandered opportunity after opportunity to transform the U.S. into a 21st Century nation; a country where regular folk would have had a place at the table with the wealthy who had been running things since Reagan. I like the man, but he should have eviscerated both his republican and democrat enemies from the outset. He should have not "played-nice" with the Republicans who declared war on him from second one. He should have pushed Congress to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. He should have installed Merrick Garland and dared the Republicans to challenge him. He should have sought tax reform for regular Americans.
I don't think history is going to be kind to him. The fact that Cadet Bone-spur has managed to deconstruct Obama's legacy so easily (and with the approval of so man Americans) speaks volumes about how fragile Obama's tenure was.
15
How on earth could he have “installed” Merrick Garland? Just because a President nominates someone there is no guarantee they will gather enough Senate votes to be confirmed. I guess he could have installed him in a lame duck session but if memory serves that didn’t happen and he would have only been a Justice until the next congressional session was sworn in.
@MM well, it would have sent a clear message that McConnell's claims about it being an election year (blah, blah, blah) were blatantly ridiculous. It would also have caused quite a battle for the republicans to fight. Instead, Obama capitulated with hardly a whimper, which seemed to be his response to a lot of the games the republicans played against him.
1
There's an interesting split in positions.
Those who are opposing Cancel culture, saying that the progressive candidates are being too extreme are talking about the notion that private medical insurance would be banned; that illegal immigration should 'not be treated as a crime' (which reads as - 'should be allowed'); that people would be judged and fired for beliefs and positions and actions that in recent years would have been considered progressive, but today are considered by the more "woke" than thou movements to be indications of horrible bigotry - like putting a hand on a person's shoulder that you are talking to.
People expressing astonishment at that view talk as if the progressive candidates are only opposing discrimination, and supporting universal health care like the rest of the world has.
Problem is - when candidates hold their hands up to gotcha questions about decriminalizing illegal immigration, health care for illegals, medicare for all as the ONLY option people are given, supporting Franken being removed without any hearing of the other side, condemning Biden for putting his hand on a woman's shoulder while talking to her - they tell the moderates that they are going to be extreme.
If the progressives don't actually want to support the extremes, they need to stop pandering to the extremes, talk about border control, immigration enforcement, and what they will do for us.
2
We are quickly running out of time on addressing climate change.
While Obama was president the US became the world’s largest producer of fossil fuels and we crossed 400ppm atmospheric CO2.
We have deniers and delayers leading us over a climate cliff.
We cannot afford more centrism. We need a major shift to survive this century.
11
We can disagree on the degree of change advocated by the Democratic Party. What I, as a moderate, want to know is if a moderate (Biden, Klobuchar, Michael Bloomberg, etc) is the eventual nominee, will Bernie/Warren supporters vote for our party's nominee and free our country of Trump or will they vote for Trump (by voting third party or not voting at all). If not, then you are also conspiring to bring the country 4 more years of Trump - make no mistake about that.
5
Medicare for All IS the moderate position.
11
@Timothy Shaw MD
Not as stated - they've been saying Medicare for All means no more private insurance allowed - you MUST have Medicare, all employers must use Medicare. That's not moderate.
1
No it is not.
If the Democrats stick to that position, they will rightly be defeated next year, as they should.
The article notes that in 2016, Obama supported the Democratic candidate who eventually lost to Donald Trump. So why should we listen to him this time?
10
@Shane Finneran
No, the candidate that beat Trump by 3 million votes. Clinton won the popular vote. She lost only on a technicality.
@Shane Finneran - He also did a really good job with his first mid-term elections. I voted for Barack and Biden twice and am still waiting for the war in Afghanistan to end and for Gitmo to be closed. Instead, they hold the record for being at war longer than any U.S. president. And record weapons sales.
I have never felt more deceived by any politician in my entire life than Obama.
1
Obama won on largely on peoples' emotions, not just policy. Hillary inspired no positive emotions with a lot of the same policies and she got trounced by an oversized toddler who won purely on emotion.
Why are people so certain candidates' policies are that important? The one who inspires the masses will win, plain and simple, and Bernie is the most inspiring candidate in decades.
4
@Jared
Clinton won by 3 million votes in spite of lies, Russian interference, Comey, sexism and faux fearmongering.
She got beaten on a technicality only.
Defeating one man, Trump, is ad hominem, not political. One should defeat ideas, or plutocracy. Even on the price of drugs, Trump is trying to do better than Obama! The same exact French drug by Sanofi cost several times more in the USA than in France! (Because of greed!)
Only extremely wealthy individuals have access to Obama now. Being in the 1% is nothing: most of the Obama crowd is, surprise, among those who would have to pay the Wealth Tax, which would allow to recycle the money plutocracy presently confiscates from We The People, through tyrannical ways.
M4A would not be voted by Congress, even if Sanders won. What the president can do is something else: sign an executive order opening Medicare at cost. That cost would be lower than private insurance, because Medicare is pretty lean, and doesn't need to make a profit. That's the so-called "public option". The executive order could then be supported by legislative action (... but it's not necessary!)
In a country like France, with super health care and great medical research, only insurance for basic health care is socialized. Complementary private insurance is not, and nearly all doctors are in private practice.
Obama's remedy to the 2008 crisis was to refinance the plutocrats who had lost their money to other plutocrats. That's why inequality rose to heights never reached before. Where is the Financial Transaction tax? Warren is proposing it; Obama avoided it, because it would have bitten the hand that feeds him
3
Obama's candidate Hillary didn't do so well in 2016. I'll choose to vote for a liberal candidate like Warren or Sanders in March,
whether or not I have Obama's blessing to do so.
10
@Paul Smith - Please do, because that will re-elect the President. He is what America needs.
1
Republicans know that they have a massive inherent advantage in holding onto a Senate majority and they are salivating at the idea of as many as three potential open seats coming up in the next handful of years. As such, they have already sold their souls to protect a president they know is completely corrupt and unfit to hold the office.
This is why it is absolutely critical that the democrats nominate a candidate who can appeal to a broad spectrum of voters. We cannot risk a SCOTUS packed full of hard right ideologues. I understand that we need radical change in many areas in this country, but the most important thing right now is to stop the profuse bleeding.
5
I fully agree. Priority number 1, 2 and 3: defeat Trump.
The rest can follow.
2
Wow, the anger spouting from these comments. Just because he’s speaking his mind, you would think that President Obama has now somehow transformed into a MAGA supporter. So, I suppose, unless you are a progressive or left of the left, as a moderate Democrat, you shouldn’t offer an opinion that is not in support of Sander/Warren? This is how we lose this election - if there is no room in our party to compromise. The Tea Party folks tried the purity test and it didn’t last. Some of us are ready to sit out the elections. Good luck running with Medicare for all free tuition.
3
"Focus on defeating President Trump, ditch the ideological purity and the “cancel” culture, or face the abyss."
There's a reason that Obama was elected and reelected. And same for Clinton. Both of them -- and their key political strategists -- knew what was important: getting rid of disastrous, destructive, and harmful regimes.
The need is even greater in 2020.
3
Yes, but Obama got ELECTED. Twice.
And if you don’t get elected you don’t get to make anything happen, no matter how much you think you are right.
And if we don’t vote Trump out, no matter who wins the primary, we’ll have 4 more years of watching the Republicans make policy. And if you don’t think there’s a difference, ask RBG who she’d rather choose her successor.
Republicans stay focused, even despite (or in agreement with) abhorrent behavior by this awful President. If Dems can’t focus on removing him, there is no hope of any change at the federal level.
President Obama is right.
3
He obviously wants to prevent any actual change from happening. If he really wanted to focus on beating Trump he wouldn’t do the Republicans’ work for them by attacking two of the front runners in the primary.
2
Obama, maybe you and Hillary can find something constructive to do that doesn’t involve being in the limelight or politics. You aren’t helping.
There is something useful I heard long ago: If you aren’t asked for your advice, don’t give it.
4
@nora m
And yet, here you are
1
xsray out of the way" didn't work so well in 2016 did it? Obama knew Putin was working hard to interfere in the election to benefit Trump and he was just about the only one who could have done something to stop it and he was cowed by Oconnell. That was weakness and timid passivity ( no matter if he did believe the polls that said HC would win) Obama will nor be treated well by future histrians who write the narrative of the Trump fiasco.
1
Obama was not out of office two weeks before he was snapping a series of shameless selfies with a host of billionaires. If anyone had any doubt about where his sympathies rested, that should have settled it.
Obama was always just about Obama. While in office, he gave away the store to Wall Street, was itching for a destructive "Grand Bargain", did nothing to support Democrats at the state level, vetoed single payer and generally paved the way for Trump by further economically demoralizing the middle class. Now he wants us all to reset the country back to an Obama third term, with some insipid, corporation-coddling moderate at the helm. No thank you.
5
Who asked him to dust off his suit?
He had 8 years of "Hope" and "Change."
It never showed up.
5
He’s a failed president and I have zero interest in what he has to say.
5
"Beat Trump."
"Ditch the ideologue stuff."
Smart guy, that Obama...
2
President Obama is absolutely right.
This whole idea that the only way to fix anything is to blow it all up, and start over is wrong, extremist, and is a great way to alienate the moderate voters who are the actual majority, many of whom loathe Trump, but don't like the idea of electing someone who is promising a similar level of disruption.
2
"Hope and change, but not like literally"
3
He is right. The most important thing is to defeat Trump in 2020 with a leader who can guide our country back onto a path of government serving the people - vs serving those running the government.
2
We can have a perfectly fine national healthcare system that is more affordable than our current system (via Medicare) and without any radical intervention.
People on Medicare now are generally sign-up for PPO type policies that resemble the most standard private packages, due to the supplementary systems Medicare contracts out. It al comes through Medicare, with Medicare standards, and under a Medicare umbrella.
A really easy, simple Medicare-For-All system merely needs to open this up to all residents who want it, with premiums adjusted for age and circumstances. It completely eliminates Medicaid. Companies now offering plans can then chose whether to continue or not -- and I would expect most of them to stop. Likewise, people on ACA would merely move over to Medicare.
Every single thing about this is completely voluntary.
The financial picture: your health care costs go down, way down, and your taxes slightly increase, and most people experience income increases since the workplace packages become unnecessary. Why do the health costs go down? Two reasons: the insurance industry is now operating primarily under contract with Medicare and its price controls AND Medicare is given bargaining rights in Pharma.
How does this save participants expenses? Via it's efficiency and via the moving of private insurance under Medicare contracts. Remember, Medicare is a fully public company.
4
People voted for President Obama because they needed HOPE that Real Change was coming. That is also why people are voting for Sanders and Warren.
198
@KKnorp Absolutely correct.
1
@KKnorp the change we want isn’t our retirement plans taking a 20% haircut which is what would happen if one of these took office. Anyone under 45 should know that these two are just the latest scam perpetuated by the baby boomer generation to have another generation pay for everything and this time it’s their retirement. If we do that in 20 years the USA will be a 2nd world back woods swamp hole
1
@KKnorp Exactly. "We don't have to completely tear down the system and remake it" is something you say when you're already comfortable, which the majority of Americans are not.
3
I agree with President Obama.
The Trump presidency has been a complete disaster both foreign and domestically. We simply cannot, as a country, endure another four years of Republican corruption and anti-democratic behavior.
The demographics of the country are changing. Soon, maybe not soon enough for some, but soon we will be able to make all the sweeping changes that need to happen with immigration, the environment, health care, campaign finance reform, voting rights, etc., etc., when progressives control the Executive and Legislative branches of government.
But first, Trump must be defeated. And if that means waiting another 4 or 8 years for those progressive changes to materialize, then so be it.
262
@Michael Moon
I don't know what sweeping changes you see as needed for immigration. But...
1. we're in a climate emergency
2. the US is the major industrialized nation with the greatest per capita greenhouse emissions.
3. the average immigrant's GH emissions rise fourfold after arrival in the US (they mostly come from developing nations)
Therefore, we need to greatly reduce immigration. Currently, the number of immigrants we take in each decade is the population equivalent of 3/4 of NY State.
13
@Michael Moon I just don't understand why you think a moderate, who is not promising change, will defeat Trump. Obama ran on change. Trump ran on change. Both won. People who run on the status quo are losing. So, good news: we can have progressive change, and defeat Trump at the same time.
36
@Michael Moon A moderate Democrat like Joe Biden will GIFT the presidency back to the Republicans in 4 years. He's not going to move the needle enough to address all the pressing issues that DEMOCRATIC and INDEPENDENT voters are raising. Returning to the pre-Trump status quo ain't gonna cut it in 2020.
15
President Obama is a centrist in every sense of the word and, frankly, that’s the sort of president that we will need in the 2020 election cycle. The current president has so divided this country that the next president (hopefully not Trump) will have a difficult job bringing us all together again. Radical right or left policies must be put on hold until the next president puts all of the pieces of this fractured nation back together. We don’t need another revolution, and we don’t need complicated and only partially thought out programs and plans. What we need is the union that existed before the current administration began its attempt to destroy it. We can make America great again, but not under this president and not with ill -conceived and divisive pie in the sky. We need both sides of the aisle working together for the common good, something we haven’t seen in a long time. And it’s easier to reach across the aisle from the center. On both sides.
139
@Unaffiliated You cannot work with people who don't acknowledge reality, facts, and science. It is a fool's errand.
16
@Unaffiliated
40 years of putting the People’s needs on hold brought us Trump. We’re done with corporate Democrats holding the People back and contributing to the gross income inequality we have today. Working class families including former Trump supporters want change today!!!
20
like Hillary's centrism was so successful?
9
I'm glad he's speaking out. This is the last man to sweep the country, not once but twice, so he knows what it takes.
I think he also has a close read of the electorate. As much as staunch progressives want the large social programs, at great cost and more than little class warfare, our former president probably realizes we are all totally exhausted by this president.
There are hundreds of things for a new Democratic candidate to fix in the aftermath of the tremendous damage Trump has done to our social fabric, our foreign policy, our alliances, gun safety measures (nada!), immigration cruelty, and making the inequality gap grow far widers.
He knows what it takes to fix a huge mess caused by an irresponsible predecessor: hard work, patience, and a long timeframe. I hope the Democrats listen to him: he knows whereof he speaks.
85
@ChristineMcM 100% agree with this. Sick and tired about reading about politics. There is more to life than this and we don’t need some anti-trump. In fact it would be great not to gave a president at all for 4 years to get some peace and quiet after the daily insanity.
2
@ChristineMcM
Kinda, but ain't it the truth that past leaders often think that their way is the best way, even if the times have changed?
I, and others, have criticized Bernie for being slow to realize that the 2020 election is quite different from that of 2016. Same logic,
Barack hasn't run an election since 2012. our circumstances are very very different.
1
@ChristineMcM
He swept the country and lost the house and Senate.
Moderate Republicans like Democratic Presidents as long as they work with Republicans on issues that are near and dear to their hearts.
But we've seen what happens once that President tries to do something they don't like. Zero cooperation.
Where were all the moderate Republicans when it came time to elect Hillary Clinton? Where were those Republicans who supposedly admired Obama's character and integrity when it came to supporting his chosen successor?
Obama's approach worked for him and him alone.
1
After all the attacks by the current administration on democratic norms and on Obama's legacy specifically, it's disappointing that Obama has only now found a reason to wade back into the public discourse, and then only to warn off people looking for bolder and bigger plans.
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
34
Did you even read the article? President Obama waited this long to engage in public discourse because he dis not want GOP to use his presence as a lighting rod. And, as a citizen, he does have a right to speak up - at anytime of his choosing.
5
Obama is politically savvy. He clearly won two elections. He knows that candidates promising free medical to every undocumented person every person who is here on a tourist Visa, will not receive many votes from working citizens. Simply put, those candidates who raised their hands at the debate supporting such gifts to citizens of other countries, are unelectable.
49
The moderates I know tend to underestimate the extent of the problems facing our country and overestimate how much time we have left to correct these problems.
At the current pace:
- 5 years from now, 30% of U.S. renters will spend half of their income on rent.
- 7 years from now, healthcare will cost $17,000 per U.S. citizen per year (one fifth of GDP).
- 15 years from now, public college in the U.S. will cost $54,000 per year.
- 17 years from now, the Social Security trust fund will be depleted.
- 33 years from now, the top 10% of U.S. households will have 100% of the wealth.
- 80 years from now, sea levels will have risen 6 feet.
12
Obama seems to have forgotten that there is no middle ground.
He wasted the most promising years early years of his presidency trying in vain to get Republican support for anything. He legitimately seems to have thought he was such a transformational figure that Republicans would be willing to put aside partisan politics and fight for the country. Obama thus seems to have selective amnesia.
No democratic candidate for President, Biden included would get ANY republican support for even the most modest reform.
Boomers being scared of change is holding the country back. If Biden or any moderate is the nominee the electorate will be uninspired (no hope for improvement) and Trump wins in 2020.
The electability argument actually needs to be turned on its head or Biden will be the next Hillary and following Trump's victory the DNC and 'moderate' dem voters will have learned nothing.
The person fighting for the working class, getting people of color and those under 40 out to the polls is Bernie Sanders. I personally would vote for any Dem in the general election (not that it will matter in my state), but the one who has understated strength in swing states, a huge network of small donors and consistently doing second best in head-to-head polls with Trump is Sanders.
The system is broken and its going to take a bright vision for the future to get people to the polls.
5
@D W There's a big difference between Republican politicians in Congress who put party over country, and the middle ground of the American public (including everyday people call themselves Republican but who don't want to support Trump). When Obama talks about electability, he's referring to winning over the American middle so we can defeat Trump and get him out of office -- and I think that's exactly right. Keep our eyes on the prize!
2
Just wanting some clarification, what does moderate even mean? Does it mean nominating someone like Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court and then having it fail spectacularly? I would have liked to see a little more tenacity and fight in the Democrats during that whole debacle.
7
it's looking like it means pro-ruling class and anti-working class
Democratic centrists, like Obama and Clinton, and the GOP have at least this much in common - they reserve the feast for big money interests and throw crumbs to everyone else. But, the centrists throw a few more crumbs. That game won’t cut it anymore. More and more people are wise to it and refusing to play along. The best thing Obama can give the country now is his absence.
5
I have a bridge to sell to anyone who believes that a centrist candidate will appeal more to the voters that will decide the 2020 election. These voters live in rust belt states and favored Bernie Sanders in the primary and Donald Trump in the general in 2016. These voters want an economic populist who is not overly focused on identity politics. Who exactly does Obama have in mind? Does he really think swing voters will favor Buttigieg over Warren?
5
@AB Swing voter in fly-over state here. Will right in my dog before Trump, Warren or Sanders.
1
Wouldn't moderate Democrats eventually come around and vote for Warren or Sanders even if they don't agree with them on everything? Aren't these the same moderates who have blamed Bernie supporters and, decades ago, Nader supporters, for the Democrats own failures? I guess the party elites want to have their cake and eat it too.
I'll vote for whoever the Dems put up...I'm desperate to get rid of Trump and, really, what choice do I have? But I don't pretend they represent me or relate to me or care about me. I'd be thrilled to vote for Sanders in the general. I'd be thrilled to vote for Warren in the general. The rest, I'd just vote for with a shrug and still be blamed by these moderate Democrats when they fail again.
3
Maybe he should remain on the sidelines if his message is for Dems to avoid standing for change in anything other than Trump sitting in the Oval Office. Obama contributed to our current dilemma by creating the perception that he bailed out Wall St but not Main St after 2008, by not pushing back forcefully against McConnell's theft of the Garland SCOTUS seat, by giving us the compromised ACA instead of a clean public health care option, and by backing the toxic Clinton instead of Uncle Joe in 2016. With this record, I'd say he should stick with his plan to finish his memoir and hang out with Wolf and his other wealthy bros.
5
“Do not engage in any policy debates during the primaries. Average Americans cannot handle that. However, when it comes to the general election, you can make condescending remarks about their guns and religion.”
4
Obama is right:
A Democratic moderate beats Trump and a liberal loses to him. Simple as that.
3
it's absolutely wrong... biden or an otherwise "centrist" or "moderate" candidate leaves so many voters (people of color, young people etc.) uninspired and believing that nothing will change, which means a loss to Trump in the general... what part of that do you not understand? would you not vote for Sanders in the general?
@eeeeee
Nonsense. The real question is How many progressives are complete morons? Because those are the only people that will stay home, rather than vote for a moderate Dem in the general.
@GMooG Hogwash. you didn't answer my question about which part of an uninspiring and lackluster candidate's very real possibility of losing in the general you don't understand?
What "ideological purity?" Wanting a President who actually leads us in the right direction instead of just not actively making the country and planet worse isn't a purity test, it's progress.
7
This early entry into election politics has the added advantage of being an annoyance to our, already, unstable genius. The conservative pundits will scoff but at least Obama is not out there demanding to see Trump's birth certificate. Not to see if he was born in America but to see if he was born on this planet. Both his complexion and hair color are not found in nature and his cruel policies, his total lack of honesty and empathy, are not found in human nature. His alien citizenship would also explain why he can't show us his tax returns.
1
"“The average American doesn’t think that we have to completely tear down the system and remake it,” said Mr. Obama. They just don't want to see crazy stuff."
People driving to Canada to afford insulin to stay alive, 45,000 people dying a year without health insurance, rents so high people are living in the streets in greater and greater numbers, kids at school can't afford their lunches, gun massacres daily somewhere in the US, CEO's making a gazillion dollars more than their work force, drug prices so high senior citizens are choosing between eating and their medicines, wages that have been stagnant for decades and farm bankruptcies up 24%.
That is crazy stuff!
11
If there was ever a time to swing for the fences, this is it so I completely disagree with my good friend Barack. He was too timid as president and continues to shrink from his duty to speak out against the horror known as Trump.
Mueller failed to indict Trump enabling Trump to continue his felonious ways. At what point do we implement radical change?
To that end, it's unlike our species will survive Climate Change if we don't elect someone committed to massive change. This is the time, Trump is the catalyst.
5
President Obama, for better and for worse, had a full 8 years as the dems' party leader. His time is over. He has no right and no business inserting himself or his opinions into the dems' primaries, no matter the merit (or lack thereof) of his opinions.
On the merits. Obama's own record disqualifies him to speak for the dem party as it is now constituted, no thanks to him: hisls corporate "centrism," his abject failure to hold anyone accountable for the war and economic crimes of the Bush Jr. administration, and what out of sheer arrogance he ceded to the gop by default.
3
"Mr. Obama...is clearly trying to make the case for a moderate and inclusive brand of politics — a message that helped him win in traditionally Republican states like Indiana and North Carolina in 2008"
Obama ran on "Hope and Change" and "Yes We Can," not moderation. He didn't win over Republicans; he inspired longtime nonvoters to come out and vote. Only later did we all realize Obama was a moderate. Moderates Gore, Kerry, and Hillary Clinton all lost because they didn't inspire enough turnout.
Trump inspires turnout; Democrats have to do the same. And it won't be enough to just motivate people to vote against Trump; you have to give them someone to vote for. But billionaire Democrat donors would rather lose to Trump than win with Bernie and Warren and see their taxes go up. And Obama, who rarely speaks out against Trump but is quick to jump on the "far left," seems to share their concerns.
Also, Axelrod's "let’s not put so much passion into the intramurals that we forget to show up for the actual game" may be the dumbest analogy I've ever read.
2
@calantir
You’re right. I’m sure you know much more about politics than Axelrod. After all, all he ever did was get a black man named Barack Obama elected President. Twice.
The biggest help President Obama could do right now, would be to instruct Tom Perez and the DNC, to allow the voters to decide who the nominee will be, instead of playing games and dirty tricks to influence the outcome, as they did in 2015/2016.
5
Wanting to have health care coverage is "ideological purity."
Only privilege could see it that way.
I'm sorry I ever voted for someone who cares so little for human needs now that he has a jet set lifestyle.
4
Obama’s books sell and he actually wrote them himself. More power to him, he earns his money and fleeces no one. His point is that we’re in a national emergency, and any Democratic candidate will be sane and respect the constitution. Things are so bad that just getting back to that starting point will be a vital and major achievement.
2
Glad to see he’s finally speaking out to help save them from themselves.
1
Wisdom at it's best. The candidate who follows his advise will be the next President.
2
No no no. The lack of ideology, the blandness of the Democratic party is what brought us Trump. The turn the other cheek syndrome, we want to work with the other side has been the downfall of the democrats. The Republican party has been waging an all out ideological war, using deceit, redrawing electoral districts to their favor, suppressing votes... this is chess not checkers and the middle of the road do nothing Democratic party just won't do. Look how far president Obama got with healthcare, his compromise guaranteed the death of the affordable care act. It is time to be bold. It is time for radical change not half measures!
5
He's 100% right. The idea that the counter to fringe right wingers is to become fringe left wingers is terrible and leaves out the majority of the country that isn't as far left or as far right as you can go. We need to put down the pitchforks and start working together - the last thing we need is to get any farther apart.
6
I’m voting Democrat period. If we let our election be stolen again by arguing internally over principles while the Republicans are playing dirty, hard ball politics there won’t be a single principle left to defend. If that happens you’ll have to get used to living in Gilead!
2
I have issues with Obama's leadership skills, but you cannot argue with his campaigning skills/experience. Ignore him at your peril.
4
Yeah, centrists. Stop being so insistent that incrementalism works, and that the "conventional wisdom" of 1996 is natural law. Time for structural change. You had your chance to prove out your philosophies. Give it up.
4
its seeming more and more to me that it's a basic ruling class vs. working class world that "centrist" dems are trying to uphold.. sorry but that's going to change, or the world as we know it is all but lost
Centrist elites love to say that we need to unite. What they really mean is the left needs to shut up and do what we say. Hillary "focused on Trump" and lost. She didn't focus on vision and ideas. Trump, unfortunately, did.
Focus on the issues people care about, with passion, honesty and integrity. Stay away from corporate money. Don't compromise before the fight has begun. Be consistent, and stand by your values even if the media doesn't like them. Sound like anyone we know? Maybe the candidate who is doing well despite being the oldest and despite being a Jewish Democratic Socialist?
3
It is simple minded to only consider a linear political model. In reality, politics are multi-dementional.
1
Good to have Obama urging the Democratic Party to come to its senses.
1
its great... he lost many battles to republicans over the years, why should we listen to him? no disrespect, but he needs to recognize that his view is out of touch just like bidens and other moderate dems
1
Obama has been bashed,insulted and disrespected by Trump for years. The Birther campaign being the most egregious assault on Obama. Although Obama has avoided direct criticism of Trump for much of the last three years his competitive nature and commitment to American values are Trump’s worst nightmare. Obama ( and Michelle) aggressively campaigning for the Democratic nominee will be the difference maker. They will energize the Obama base and begin the cleansing of the White House.
4
More basically of the same old punditry, preaching to Democrats about how to appeal to "the center."
My God, does anyone see what is going on? The Party of Trump is conducting all-out war on the Constitution and the rule of law. Trump himself is completely unhinged, abandoning and threatening our allies, while cozying up to the most despicable tyrants in the world.
Under any other president, any one of these events would have been the end of any effective political power for an administration:
- The assassination of Jamaal Khashoggi and Trump's ignoring the Saudi government's brutality
- The family separations at the border, with young children left to sleep in their own urine and feces on concrete floors in chain link cages
- The announcement this week that the United States no longer considers Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be problematic
- The openly racist, misogynistic attacks on four Members of Congress who happen to be women of color
- The pardon and reinstatement of a Navy SEAL found guilty by a military General Court Martial of heinous war crimes
- The utter and complete destruction of the State Department
- The contempt for science that is destroying the EPA and other science-based agencies
The sort of President we need in 2020? NOT TRUMP! It's that simple.
5
Because that worked in 2016...
1
I supported President Obama and probably would vote for him a third time, were it allowed. BUT—I don’t feel he was always right, just always inspiring and good.
He wasted more than a few opportunities, a recess appointment of Merrick Garland, neglecting to warn the country about Russian interference in the election, importantly. He was constrained by ugly treatment from his political enemies, and they weren’t willing to spare his family, so that can’t be ignored.
But the country would have have stood behind him in large numbers if he had fought back.
He’s reluctant to criticize Donald Trump, whose public attacks on him are vicious and began with his emergence in public life and continue to this day. Why does he give Trump that deference while giving public admonishments to Democrats?
Constant fretting about too much change proposed by Democrats, as though they were operating out of Mao’s Little Red Book, while Trump is actually imposing ideas from Orwell’s 1984 is more likely to get us another 4 yrs of his regime, then the playbook might actually be Mein Kampf.
4
While I admire President Obama and his vision in pushing for healthcare reform, I think that Americans want to see substantial reforms in healthcare, education, minimum wage, and more, including reform of the financial system, not actions that just nibble around the edges. That is a self-defeating strategy. In 2008, after spending half a trillion dollars to bail out banks, where was the similar amount to be spent on infrastructure (jobs), human capital (affordable education), support for those who were victims of predatory housing loans, etc.? The failure to do so was the root cause of the 2010 midterm elections debacle. One can debate the outlines of what substantive reforms look like, but to argue for a timid approach is a recipe for disaster.
18
@humanist
Reforms, yes. Revolution, no.
Change in amounts that the majority of americans can swallow so as to not further divide the country on ideological grounds. Ram too much change down their throats? No. That is what we have been doing and we see the results of that. Big changes take time and need to be implemented in smaller amounts that the majority of the people can accept. That makes taking the next dose of change more acceptable. And a s a result, it can come sooner. By just ramming as much change as possible down their throats, they have gotten to the point of regurgitating it. Now they push back and are very reluctant to accept more change. So now, change takes longer. Can you blame them? I cant. And I would react the same if that was done to me.
@humanist and if an aggressive approach on those issues gives us four more years of Trump? Keep in mind that Trump's base is rock solid, some 40% of the vote is his regardless (unless he's impeached and convicted). All you have to do is scare 11% of moderates enough and you'll get Trump again. And while you think your proposed reforms are bold and clearly good... a lot of Americans don't agree.
(Aside: The US did not spend a trillion dollars to bail out banks. $700B was approved, but only $440B was disbursed, and $443B was recouped -- meaning there was a small net profit to the taxpayers, if you ignore the time value of money. I'm not saying the need for the bailout didn't indicate a problem, just that you're exaggerating it wildly.)
@humanist The Republican Senate and 45 have turned ACA to a substandard healthcare option. It should be fixed, this time Republican Proofed. The only problems with education are that teachers are underpaid public grammar schools are under financed and the poor have kids that have had their free food rations cut severely by red states and programs like SNAP. Here Huffington Post Turns out that feeding people might help the not die.
"As the Trump administration pushes food assistance cuts, a new paper touts reduced mortality among benefit recipients.
The Republican party gives to the rich not other Americans.
I imagine I am exactly the sort of moderate, independent voter President Obama is talking about. I voted for him twice. I voted for Hillary, although I would have considered a center Republican as well. And President Obama is right. I want to see Mr. Trump defeated, but the far left Democrats are throwing out what for me is crazy stuff. I would have trouble voting for Warren or Sanders. I don't want to "go back", but "tearing down the system" is not what I want either. There is a middle ground. For example, health care. Many European countries do not have socialized health care, despite what Republicans say. They still use aspects of a free market, just utilized in a different way. Further, government payment of healthcare is not socialized medicine; it is socialized health insurance.
It is frustrating to someone like myself that the choice of a President must come down to far left or far right views. There is a place for a moderate candidate with a progressive, not radical, vision. Remember, the root word of progressive is progress, not rapid destruction. I think the Democrat party would do well to heed President Obama's advice. If they don't, the Republican, or a Conservative, Party might.
43
@Rich Stern I'm exactly the kind of independent, moderate voter that sees the frontal assault on the very foundations of our Republic from the Party of Trump. It is frustrating to someone like myself that there are those who see any kind of equivalency at all between the radical self-dealing, graft, and corruption of the Party of Trump and the Democratic Party.
5
@Rich Stern
You can always vote for William Weld. He is a non-extreme Republican. You can be comfortable with him. If he isn’t on the ballot, you can write him in.
Pretty simple, isn’t it?
1
@nora m
Simple? No
Simple-minded? Yes
" ideas that he thinks could alienate moderate voters in the 2020 election." The irony is that the centrist move of the Democratic party has alienated progressive voters in the 2012 and 2016 elections. Obama was elected with 69.5 million votes when he ran as a progressive in 2008 and lost about 3.5 million votes between 2008 and 2012.
Of course the Democratic party can choose which way to go, but as we see in both parties the appeal of "big tent" politics seems to be dwindling.
12
President Obama showed a tin ear when it came to dealing with Russia's involvement in the 2016 election. Under pressure from Mitch McConnell, he didn't share what he knew. He is demonstrating a similar tin ear in dealing with the larger number of Democrats running for the presidency in 2020 than in 2016. President Obama should be focused on listening to the voters, not the largest contributors to the DNC and Democratic party or one specific candidate. Post Citizens United, listening to the voters should take precedence over big money.
30
The fact that his comments this weekend were addressed to a crowd of wealthy liberal donors and not, I don’t know, working class people, is exactly the reason I’m voting for Bernie.
91
The radicals in the Democratic Party (i.e., the so-called "progressives") will ignore what Obama is saying.
They are so convinced of the "rightness" of their beliefs that they are willing to lose in order to maintain them.
The reason I am a Democrat is that I vote to protect the vulnerable. These so-called "progressives" will ignore Obama and condemn the vulnerable to 4 more years of Trump.
24
@Travelers
Will rust belt voters who favored Sanders in the primary and Trump over HRC in the general favor a centrist over Warren? Will younger voters prefer a centrist over Warren? These voters, not Wall Street centrists will decide the election. You "centrists" (read, conservatives) have gotten your way for decades. It's time for an alternative.
3
@Travelers, the left of center risk losing in 2020 by splintering into a million little pieces; each piece taking a percentage of the voters with them as they go down for their individual cause. Then, all the Republicans have to do is to be careful not to cut themselves as they sweep into office.
The Democrats are delightfully diverse but need unity in order to win.
I would love it if they would unify around some women candidates though...is that too far left?
1
I have no issue being wrong, or adhering to positions different than my preferred position. What I do have great difficulty with is people who have expressed consistently incorrect, and exclusive, views since the day after the Trump election setting pace on "mainstream views" in the NYT. Looking at you, Mr. Axelrod. I value your contributions, but you have for a long while led with a centrist perspective, including immediately after Trump's election. It has never rung true with what many people have felt or acted upon, through marches and the greatest activism of a generation. Are you listening to the people?
11
Democrats should remember that too many voters stayed away in 2016 because they didn’t like either candidate. Every candidate should ask himself or herself will more people show up because I am running or will more people stay away.
And every voter should ask himself or herself if I don’t show up will I be giving the election to the candidate I like the least.
13
We were so fortunate to have such a president for 8 years. And we are fortunate to have his wisdom and guidance going forward.
15
@Lawyermom
Yeah, he was very wise in regards to his lack of concern regarding Russia.
His comments are a bit out of touch, similar to the “clinging to guns and religion” comment in 2008. Does he think Warren and Sanders are going to change their positions based on his comments to a crowd of large donors or is he attempting to push voters away from them? This is not a good way to create unity within the party.
36
I have found Obama's remarks to date to be rather patronizing.
True, he won two elections for the presidency so his opinion matters. But he's always had an irritating quality - somewhat authoritarian, somewhat sexist, somewhat elitist - that rankles.
I'm middle aged, but Obama's words make me feel like saying "OK Boomer".
33
@Cousy , think carefully about brfire wielding that already tired "Ok, Boomer" trope.
If you want to breathe clean air, feel confident about the safety of our drinking water, if you value ourparks and natural resources, I hope that you will overcome misgivings and vote Donald Trump out of office.
We can disagree about many things, but getting this wanna be Mafia don and his cronies out of power is Job 1.
2
@Cousy How in the heck is Obama sexist or authoritarian? Are you somehow confusing him with Trump—the real McCoy? You are really stretching to find something to criticize Obama about.
As a middle class voter who was thrilled with Obama in 2008, I was extremely disappointed in him later. He did not hold Wall Street execs accountable and showed he is not a true friend to the working class.
He was so cautious in his first term that little was accomplished, and his second term was a wash. Yes, the Republicans refused to work with him, but he didn’t really call them on it or force the issue. He should have shut down the government when they refused to confirm his Supreme Court nominee. He did not fight the fight.
Democrats need to stand up and call out the corruption, the greed, and the racism that is destroying our country.
We don’t need someone like Obama again. We need a fighter!
Vote Warren!
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@TJ Little accomplished his first term? Well, the ACA did give more than 20 million people health insurance; it lifted restrictions/denials for having a pre-existing condition (including being a woman); ended lifetime caps; allowed young adults to remain on their parents policy, etc. Those items are for ALL insurance, including employer benefits. I suppose that everything he did for the environment (climate change) was meaningless. Anyway, trump has undid it all. If trump gets four more years, it will be the end of America and the planet.
1
Your sentiments are the exact reasons I support Sanders and Warren. No one. Not one of the billionaire class was held to account for bringing the world economy to it's knees in 2008.
2
If the Democratic candidates don't get their act together and stop focusing on pie-in-the-sky ideas they will lose the election. It is crucial that Trump be put out of office along with his cronies to save this country. Talking about all the great things we could be doing for our citizens while there is a dumpster fire going on in the WH make no sense. You have almost no permanent staff in key departments, our relationships with other other countries are in tatters and you think you're going to lead with changing the entire tax system and giving Medicare to everybody? All great ideas... just not now.
9
"Focus on defeating President Trump, ditch the ideological purity and the “cancel” culture, or face the abyss"
Democrats would be fools to ignore advice from one of only two Democrats since FDR to win two presidential elections.
Bloomberg hasn't even announced but he's already been cancelled for being a billionaire.
Deval Patrick has been cancelled for working in private equity.
If Democrats are foolish enough to nominate Elizabeth Warren they will have only themselves to blame when this county is stuck with Trump for another four years.
10
"Crazy stuff" is offensive, Barack.
I love Obama but the times have moved rapidly beyond him. Furthermore, Obama's tenure crushed the *hopes* of so many progressives. Remember the single payer option?
Being elected in 2008 is vastly different from being elected in 2020. Biden is yesterday, not tomorrow.
Today, Obama is fantastic at inspiring youth in his leadership programs. He should stick to that.
The brutal truth is that America, and the planet, are not just yearning to destroy trump and reverse the damage done by him to return to Obama's 2016, but also recognize the desperate need to accelerate past 2016 and save our future. Moderation got us into our troubles.
Obama will see that truth in one year.
27
Obama - “The average American doesn’t think that we have to completely tear down the system and remake it,”
Does he know that Trump won the 2016 election? Someone this out of touch should not be consulted for advice.
24
Most people are not crying out for “structural change,” they’re crying out for help, which the Dems won’t be able to deliver without removing the monster in the White House, as well as several of his toadies in the Senate. If we fail to do that, then we can all watch America go down the drain. Ideological purity won’t save us, only implementable practicality, like a public option for health care. An unfettered Trump if he wins in 2020 will be able to pursue the health care plan the GOP has dreamed about for years, Medicare for None. Trump has already seriously undermined the EPA, we can’t let him destroy it, which he and his fossil-fuel cronies will do if they get the chance.
8
@eyesopen
Everyone, please read and heed this post!
The Democrats will not listen to him--for they are not listening to anyone. The Democrats will lose in 2020.
4
2020 should be all about cold calculated practicality.
The revolution can wait
13
@John
That’s what corporate Democrats have been saying for 40 years. That attitude brought us the greatest income inequality in history and Trump. Enough of that condescending fear mongering garbage. Vote for a People’s warrior!
This is complete nonsense from an neo-liberal.
There is no purity test.
First the policies needed and highlighted by the Progressives are no more then what was the norm during the middle of the 20th Century with National Health care added.
There can be no such thing a "purity" (as if purity is now an epithet btw) when EVERY industrialized country has these simple policies except the US.
Finally, it was the abandoning, by the Democrats, of the policies started by Franklin Roosevelt and which became the signature success of the Democratic party, staring in 1979 and carried to full flower by the Clintons and Obama and which led directly to the rise of neo-facists and the problems we face now.
Failing to take responsibility for our failures as Democrats and acting Cassandra like with regards to the likes of Warren and Sanders is down right shameful for the Democratic Elite.
More of the same "Republican light" by Conservative Democrats will do nothing to eliminate the root cause of our current self inflicted mess.
24
Darn shame this man cannot run this country again, for life. He was and remains the nearly perfect president for our times and the forseable future. Ethics, intelligence, statesmanship, and prone to complete sentences that make sense.
6
Thanks a bunch, Barack Obama, for tweeting support for Justin Trudeau in Canada's recent election to say that you were proud to have worked with Trudeau: “a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change”! You thus reassured supporters that Trudeau wasn't a racist for wearing brownface and blackface when he was as old as 29.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-ivison-barack-obama-the-man-who-won-the-canadian-federal-election. Too bad you didn't know of Trudeau's blatantly anti-black behaviour with his first act as prime minister in 2015. While he was lauded for insisting that his cabinet was half female, no one in Canada's media that I ever saw commented on Trudeau also bragging that he had more Sikhs in his cabinet than the prime minister of India -- four out of 30 ministers -- while failing to include a single black or East Asian Canadian. Sikh Canadians number about half a million, black Canadians 1.5 million and East Asian Canadians over 2 million. It wasn't that no black or East Asian Liberal MPs was qualified for cabinet. I was outraged to learn that Celina Caesar-Chavannes, who is black, has twice the qualifications of Sikh Bhardish Chagger. But who made it cabinet? The ethnically/racially preferred woman. How demoralizing for black Canadians! And how socially divisive for encouraging resentment of unfairly favoured of Sikh Canadians! I now support the Green Party of Canada and wish that Ms. Caesar-Chavannes would join.
1
Obama's no fool. Let's all learn from him and the former first lady. They are real leaders. And the kind of patriots we lack at present in this administration.
8
In Obama we trust.
4
Sanders and Warren will alienate moderates and provide fuel to the fire under Trump's base. The issue isn't who the people want or what programs sound ideal; it's about displacing Trump and getting back on course so that the work Sanders and Warren speak of can be advanced later.
9
63 million voted for trump in 2016, 200 million eligible voters didn't vote for trump. What Democrats need is a candidate like Sanders or Warren to energize today's silent majority that are dissatisfied with health care, student loan debt, corporations and billionaires evading taxes and an array of other greviences. Chile is a loud and clear warning of what the endpoint of neoliberal policies is.
29
@DitchmitchDumptrump What happens if those people aren't aligned with Sanders or Warren? What if Sanders or Warren get elected and are unable to keep their promises because Congress won't make the legislation? What happens if they do try to push something through and it fails?
These are serious concerns. Not everyone agrees with the far left, just like most people don't agree with the far right.
3
Obama was the best moderate Republican president we ever had, but he was no economic friend of working people. That is why Trump and Bernie were the response to Obama's presidency.
Obama gave a second trillion to the financial industry (after Bush's), without any restrictions compelling them to make loans or even limiting them from pocketing the money, lengthening the recession, and when we needed a 12 trillion dollar infrastructure program as a stimulus (and to fix decaying infrastructure while labor was available), Obama provided just another trillion for the remainder of the population.
Obama and Hillary are Wall Street darlings. "Liberals" for people who are not very liberal.
Obama really has nothing to offer without first admitting to his utter Wall Street coddling financial timidity, when, at the start of his term, he had both houses of Congress. And Obama won't. He and Hillary live in a cloistered world far from the working people. They are both reasonable administrators of the Wall Street State, and little else.
The Democratic Party elites stuffed Bernie, who could have beaten Trump in 2016. And Trump faked concern for working people -- which shows just how bad Hillary was, as she could not even fake it.
The Obamas and the Clintons have nothing to offer, unless they are to be the ones to start a new conservative party that supersedes the Republican Party.
131
@Craig Mason My thoughts exactly, amen.
14
Bernie "could've beaten trump in 2016"?? That's quite a leap of faith, and completely unsubstantiated.
Fact is only 5 swing states matter in 2020. That is an incontrovertible fact. Neither Bernie or Sanders can take them.
So your options are to move to the center, or enjoy 4 more years of pres trump.
And please dont call President Obama a "Republican" just because he doesnt share all of your personal views. Politics is usually about finding the middle ground. You need to grow up a bit or you're handing the next election to trump. Don't!!
23
@Aerys It was Obama himself, who said he would be considered as a moderate Republican in 1980s. Craig Mason's description is quite accurate.
10
Nice try to unify the party by criticizing the left. How well did it work in 2016? Really, he should not do, otherwise, the people in the left will feel disenfranchised and will stay home or vote for third party candidates. You can not expect loyalty from people those views you are not willing to hear.
36
As a political prognosticator Barack Obama isn't so hot. Recall that in the summer of 2016 he scoffed at the chances of Trump being elected. Instead of offering counsel to fellow Democrats I would appreciate hearing his explanation why 8-9 million people who voted for him in 2012 switched to Donald Trump in 2016. It is not totally far out to assert that Barack Obama's primary legacy was the election of Donald Trump.
25
@Arnold Didn’t pretty much everyone scoff at the idea that Trump would be elected? I, for one, had the biggest shock of my life when my phone binged early the next morning with the notification that Donald J. Trump was the next president of the United States. It took days for that awful shock to wear off.
4
@Arnold To be fair, everybody scoffed at the chances of Trump being elected.
7
@Arnold Indeed. The Demoncrats have completely overlooked the rage directed at global plutocratization, corruption, the so-called "globalization" those immensely wealthy Obama "donors" profit from.
1
Obama should certainly step in, as a former President of the Democratic Party. He was a president with integrity in his heart, working in a den of wolves. I believe he knows all the tricks to try too get the job done, without ranting and raving about reinventing government.
7
" Focus on defeating Trump and ditch the ideological purity and 'cancel' culture. Truer, saner words have'nt been spoken to the muddled Democratic fold of Democratic candidates - from the 'elder' statesman. I hope the candidates take notice and do right by the country - defeat Trump! All else for now is noise about possibilities and not probabilities.
29
Obama is a big part of why we’re here. He told us to Keep Hope Alive. He said Yes We Can. He ran when HHI was $50k and college cost $25k and health insurance $12k annually. Ten years later and HHI is flat and college and health insurance have doubled. What does he expect now? We’re still waiting for Change We Can Believe In. Maybe Obama is worried Warren will
tax that $15m mansion he just bought on the Vineyard.
77
"Focus on defeating President Trump, ditch the ideological purity and the “cancel” culture, or face the abyss."
Preach that. Get rid of the cancer first. Later on you can do a whole makeover but the cancer must be removed first.
19
@TheOutsider Brilliantly stated! Thank you.
1
Man won twice. God's sake: listen.
63
@ Carter Nicholas
And I believe Obama won by the largest margins of any Democrat since FDR. So yes, let’s pay attention! We have to unite to get TRump out of the WH. Nothing matters more! We can figure out policy once we have control of all 3 branches of government.
6
@Carter Nicholas And he left Trump in charge...
3
@Carter Nicholas I fear that not enough will listen. We have too many Susan Sarandon's out there, pining for ideological purity and disregarding what polls are telling them. Talk about living in an ivory tower.
2
Exactly!!
4
Obama, Clinton, Clinton, Biden, Hoyer, Clyburn, etc. should follow the example of Jimmy Carter and go do good works instead of concentrating on making money. All they will do is to continue to suck the oxygen out from the new blood that the party so desperately needs.
57
@Mike Gera
Knowing what we know about the state of our Union under Trump, I'm very surprised at what you are stating.
Or maybe you are one of Trump's base.
@NNI Yeah, right, there are lots Trump supporters living here in the Bronx. Please. The Democrats are clearly heading towards a re-election of Trump, and this is being facilitated by the refusal of past "moderate" Dem leaders to yield their positions to a new generation. Let's add Wasserman-Schultz to the list of people who should ride off into the sunset after having stolen the 2016 Dem nomination from Bernie. It is the "moderate" wing of the Democrats that is principally responsible for the election of Trump, and they're about to do it again.
1
@John Lonergan It's the "moderate" wing of the Dem party that will cause Trump to be re-elected. Structural economic change is needed, and there isn't a "moderate" within the Democrats who understands that. Bernie and Warren seem to understand this, but it is just a matter of time until the "moderates" force them out. Trump was right about one thing: the election was "rigged", but it was the "moderate" Democrats who rigged it against their own party.
I could not agree more, Mr. President. There is only thing that matters right now and that is defeating Trump. Thank you for speaking up - we need your wisdom, now more than ever.
31
“Associates describe a former president impelled by his belief that the diverse electorate he once unified is being split by “Medicare for all” and immigration proposals — ideas that he thinks could alienate moderate voters in the 2020 election.”
Exactly Mr. Obama. People may espouse to change. However, radical; sweeping change is not palatable to most. Ease into the evolution of ideas.
13
Earlier today in Thomas Edsall's column in the NYT we read about the opposition to Elizabeth Warren's economic program--not just health care but also taxes, social security enhancement, climate change, antitrust-, etc-from people like Larry Summers and others who had worked for Obama.
A common refrain (and it's always a refrain where Obama is concerned, as if to plead extenuating circumstances on his behalf) is that Obama had to depend on these reactionary individuals because the US economy was in a deep hole when he was elected to office.
After reading this and other reports recently, It has become amply clear that President Obama was not quite so helpless in his choices. It turns out he is one of them.
38
Democrats lost 1,100 seats from 2008 to 2016. Not sure he's the leader we should be listening to right now about winning back the government.
137
@Keith As I recall, those congressional seats were lost because of the "Real Change" that Obama and Pelosi actually brought, which was the Affordable Care Act. That law spurred an avalanche of disinformation and paranoia and voters chose representatives who would put the brakes on those visionaries. Yeah, the public wants big change until it actually happens.
50
@Jane
Excellent point!
4
@Jane Obama didn't deliver the change though. We got a watered-down health care plan, bank execs filled his cabinet and bailed out the banks, and homeowners were left out in the cold.
It wasn't the big change that disillusioned voters. It was the lack of actual REAL change that Obama promised.
30
‘Hey, let’s not put so much passion into the intramurals that we forget to show up for the actual game.’”
Basically regular season versus the Super Bowl. Playoffs don't even start until there are only 3-4 candidates left.
I've been a bit dismayed by the negativity of Democratic candidates toward the other candidates. It's "beat up on the top dog" every debate. I realize politics is difficult, but I'd like to see more differentiation between the candidates on what they are FOR, particularly the differential in policy between the Democratic party and trump.
Lay out strongly the bills sitting on McConnell's desk that the House has passed. The Senators can particularly contribute to this.
20
Thank you President Obama. We need to hear more voices of sense and reason these days.
28
Did he endorse Hillary? How did that work out?
16
Thank you, President Obama, for your wise and calming influence in the midst of a raging political festival that the Occupant in the Oval Office has created since you left the White House. I truly miss those days and only wish we had even a tenth of your insight playing out right now in Washington. Thanks for pitching in with Democrats who need direction and only in the way you can do it!
11
Given the ongoing impeachment testimony, I'm betting Obama is going to be weighing in on all this sooner rather than later....
2
he's absolutely correct. we are fighting for the soul of the nation and restoration of our principles - oh, and the rule of law, not men (using that term loosely).
28
@Mark
"he's absolutely correct. we are fighting for the soul of the nation and restoration of our principles - oh, and the rule of law, not men (using that term loosely)."
Loosely, indeed. I think what you meant to say was the rule of law, not the rule of one man.
2
@Mark You're entitled to your opinion but neither you, nor Obama, have made the case that a centrist candidate would appeal to swing voters. In particular, you must explain (1) why swing voters in rust belt states will prefer a centrist over Warren and (2) why younger voters will favor a centrist over Warren. These are the voters that will decide the election. Other democrats will of course fall in line during the general election, as they always do. They are even more likely to fall in line, given that the alternative is Trump.
The suggestions of Mr Obama are reasonable. We need reason desperately at this point in time.
73
@Donna V
If his comments are reasonable, perhaps you can suggest exactly what the candidates should do to follow his advice. Which of them is engaging in “cancel culture”?
2
@BK
I’ve got it! I’ve got it! Stop threatening to take away people’s healthcare.
1
From the moment he took office, President Obama has never failed to punch left when the opportunity presents itself.
He's attacking Warren and Sanders for essentially running as he did in 2008. Its little wonder why under his stewardship democrats lost hundreds of seats in national government.
The people want a candidate who stands for something.
101
"Crazy stuff" is $47 billion in healthcare profits last year.
530,000 personal bankruptcies due to medical bills.
Multi-million dollar healthcare CEOs getting crazy wealthy off our premiums. The most expensive and unsustainable healthcare system in the world with 87 uninsured or underinsured Americans. Only developed country in the world without healthcare for all.
That's crazy.
230
@kat perkins
Good points. I would also add that outside of the USA, all other developed countries do “crazy stuff” like national health insurance.
Crazy isn’t it ..,
53
I agree. Talk to people with Health insurance or just listen to them talk for that matter. you know what you hear them say "how much there deductible is, how much there copays are. Our healthcare system is too expensive even if you have insurance. It makes no sense to say that America, the richest country on Earth can't afford healthcare for it's people. It's a lie. No matter who is paying for it in its current " for profit" state it is too expensive as is. The reason is " for profit". So if we tweek the current system to increase subsidies, add more people to Medicaid and so on, that doesn't change the fact that our government with our tax dollars or employers large and small have to buy into a system that is unaffordable. That is why it makes good economic sense to go to Medicare for all and take the profit mechanism out of healthcare.
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@sirina Medicare for All is just one of many solutions and approached to address the problems you cite. But speaking of talking "to people with health insurance", be aware: most American have health insurance, and a majority of those through private employer sponsored plans. They may feel they pay too much (until they really need it) but generally they are satisfied with the care they receive. They generally get prompt service, quality care, and pay very little in the way of copays relative to the sticker cost of care.
That doesn't mean there is not the need of an overhaul , but as to Medicare For All, ask them is they'd choose to scrap their current paln in exchange for a one-size-fits-all government administered plan. Likely, these people would experience a decline in the quality of the care they receive even if in theory, the tax increase required to enact MFA resulted in a net savings.
Because people don't carry health insurance coverage to save money on premiums, they carry it to have adequate care when they need it. So don't count on a groundswell of support running on MFA.
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