Former President Barack Obama is returning to the spotlight following President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive 312 to 226 Electoral College victory last month, raising questions about his role in the Democratic Party going forward.
Obama will talk with Angela Merkel, the former chancellor of Germany, about her new book at the Anthem in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
Merkel makes a lot of negative comments about Trump in her new memoir, which paints a negative picture of her time working with him.
This week, the former president will also be the main speaker at the 2024 Obama Democracy Forum in Chicago.
He will be joined by actor Ryan Reynolds and country singer Reyna Roberts to talk about “pluralism,” which means finding ways for different groups to work together.
Obama’s public appearances come less than a month after the election, when Democrats were trying to figure out why their party does not seem to be connecting with working-class voters. Some people also wonder if Obama’s influence is still useful after the election results.
Hank Sheinkopf, a long-time Democratic strategist, thinks that Obama is a very important person in the Democratic Party.
“He is still having an effect. Heroes can not be lost if they can not be replaced,” he said. “The Democrats have a problem with generations and a problem with who they are as a party.”
“They need to get back together.” Question is: Can Barack Obama and other heroes of the past help them do that, or do they need a whole new group of people to get to work? Sheinkopf said.
“Why Pluralism Matters,” “How to Make Progress in Polarised Times,” and “The Power of Culture and Connection” are some of the topics that will be talked about at the Obama Foundation Forum on Thursday.
The Obama Foundation says that people who go will “learn new tools to foster productive dialogue essential to inclusive and resilient communities” during the workshops.
A Democratic strategist named Brad Bannon thinks that Obama feels more at ease going public to speak out against Trump’s plans.
Bannon said, “He is stepping back into the spotlight. You will hear him talk about national security issues because I think he is worried about the direction that the president-elect will take in breaking up NATO and pulling support for the Ukrainians.”
A strategist explained, “I think he is very worried about the direction that Trump will take in foreign policy and believes that Trump will weaken our national and international posture. That is what I think this conversation with Merkel is about, but he wants to stay above the partisan fray.”
Obama travelled all over the country to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for president. At one point, she scolded black men who were making “excuses” for not wanting to vote for the first black female president. In the last few months of the campaign, Obama was very critical of Trump and said he was not fit to be president.
At a rally in Arizona in October, he said, “We do not need to see what an older, crazier Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails.”
Bannon thinks that Obama will try to stay out of the internal politics of the Democratic Party and use his power in other ways.
“I think he does not like partisan politics on purpose.” “I think he stepped up for Harris in the last month, but I do not think you will see him doing a lot of Democratic Party work,” he said. He likes to stay out of the way and have an effect on things without being seen.
“It would surprise me if he did not have some say in the new Democratic National Party chair selection process. I think a lot of Democrats value his advice, but he will do it in a roundabout way.”
