Obama won’t just go away. He loves power too much.
Now Barack Obama hit the campaign trail again in a stunning move out of left field.
Politics produces strange alliances, but few are as awkward as the one on display in Michigan this weekend. Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to rally Saturday with Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate who once wrote in print that Obama “was not the right choice.” The rally is meant to shore up a constituency Democrats cannot win Michigan without: Black voters.
Obama formally endorsed El-Sayed earlier this month and filmed a campaign ad, which began running Oct. 12, urging his supporters “to support Abdul El-Sayed for the United States Senate.” The rally, which Fox News reports will begin at 5:00 p.m. and feature Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson, is designed to encourage attendees to cast early ballots for the Democratic ticket.
The reason for the effort is not hard to find. A poll conducted by Fox News Digital in late September found that just 77% of Black voters supported El-Sayed, a figure well below where Democrats typically perform with that group. In a state where Black turnout can decide a close race, that number should worry any Democrat. Low turnout or defections to the GOP among African Americans, as Fox puts it, could seriously endanger the party’s path to control of the Senate.
The weakness is not new. During the Democratic primary, El-Sayed performed strongly among Arab American voters but narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens after polls showed her drawing stronger support from Black Democrats. Rather than healing in the weeks since, the concern has followed him into the general election against Republican Mike Rogers, who has argued that El-Sayed is vulnerable with two traditionally Democratic blocs.
Then there is the history. In a 2012 Huffington Post essay, El-Sayed accused Obama of failing to live up to the progressive rhetoric on which he campaigned. “I realize that I have little hope because there has been less change,” El-Sayed wrote. “But I have to say now what I’ve been holding in throughout his campaign and what I think all of us have to admit: Obama was not the right choice — he just wasn’t the wrong one.”
He did not stop there. The essay went on to criticize the then-president for perpetuating war, violating civil liberties and carrying out more deportations than any previous president. Those are not minor policy disagreements. They are the same complaints that many of El-Sayed’s supporters on the left level against the political establishment he is now courting.
Since then, El-Sayed has softened his tone, noting that it is possible to disagree with someone while still admiring them and praising how Obama operated under the circumstances he inherited. Plenty of candidates evolve, and a few years can change a perspective. But voters are entitled to wonder whether the change was a conviction or a campaign tactic.
Conservative commentator Jason Rantz did not hide his view. On a CNN panel he said El-Sayed was setting aside his criticisms of Obama because he was in a desperate electoral position and needed to “try to bring in black voters.” Rantz is not a neutral observer, but the political logic of his point is hard to miss: the candidate who once dismissed Obama is now relying on him.
Fox News Digital spoke with more than a dozen Black voters in Detroit, and the reactions were mixed. Undecided voters largely agreed that Obama remains a leader within the Democratic Party, yet they generally did not put much weight on his endorsement. One voter named Mercedes put it bluntly: “Honestly, it’s a turn-off just because I’ve seen too many candidates use him just to manipulate the Democratic vote.”
Another undecided voter acknowledged Obama’s symbolic power while questioning his record. “What he’s been able to do is from an image standpoint, as far as ‘hope,’ he drove the point there,” the voter said. “But as far as really giving back to the community, minority owned businesses, and everyone across the board, I don’t really think he really got there for me … he really hasn’t swayed me one way or another.”
Others raised the question of the flip itself. “Yeah, I don’t understand how you can endorse somebody that was kind of the opposition when you were in office,” a voter named Juanita said. “I mean, that doesn’t make sense.” She also made a point that campaign managers should take to heart: “I don’t want to be pushed to vote for him because somebody else is backing him.”
Not everyone sees a problem. One voter described the shift as “a flip flop,” but also as “an opportunity to pretty much highlight those things and how he’s actually changed and why their objectives may align now.” Kandia Milton, a government affairs professional with deep ties to Detroit’s African American community, said claims that El-Sayed lacks appeal with Black voters are misguided. In her words, “Detroiters, once they understand his background, understand what he stands for and all the things that he’s done in the past, you see greater enthusiasm for his campaign and his candidacy for Senate.”
It is worth being careful about what this proves. A few voters in Detroit do not speak for the whole electorate, and even some who already voted early for El-Sayed told Fox that Obama’s backing meant little to them. That can be read as a lack of enthusiasm, or as a sign that those voters had already made up their minds.
What the episode does show is the limit of celebrity endorsements. Voters, especially working-class ones who have heard promises from both parties for decades, tend to judge candidates by what they have done for their own communities. A former president’s blessing can draw a crowd. Convincing undecided voters is a different task, and it falls to the candidate himself.
With a tight race and a short calendar, the El-Sayed campaign cannot count on Obama’s name to close the gap. Michigan voters, Black and white, are looking for someone who will answer for the past, explain the present and show up for them after Election Day. Saturday’s rally may fill a hall, but it will not answer the question that undecided Detroit voters are asking: why did the man who said Obama was not the right choice decide he was right all along?
