OPINION:
Democrats are desperate — dang desperate. So they’re calling out Old Reliable to hit the campaign trail on their behalf. Old Reliable — that’s Barack Obama. Who better than a non-stop campaigner to help out with sluggish campaigns?
Obama didn’t earn the moniker “campaigner-in-chief” while serving as president for nothing.
The larger picture, perhaps, is the media frenzy that’s already being generated about Obama’s announced politicking plans.
Look at this headline, from Newsweek: “Obama is returning to politics in 2018, and Trump should be worried.”
The story goes on to state: “If President Donald Trump and the Republican Party were already worried about defending their majorities in the House and Senate come November, they will now have another major factor to contend with: Barack Obama.”
Talk about wishful thinking.
First off, Republicans aren’t exactly hand-wringing right now. Well, maybe Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is a bit, tweeting out — mistakenly so — a dire-sounding message about the loss of a 10th state Senate district seat to a Democrat that went like this: “WAKE UP CALL: Can’t presume voters know that more people are working than ever before. Help us share the good news.”
His fear comes from a place of unjustified darkness that recognizes this particular district had voted for Trump in 2016 with a 17 point margin, but then fails to note this critical addendum: This district had also voted for Obama in 2012. On top of that, this state is historically Democrat. That Trump had won it at all was a massive jaw-drop for Dems.
But second off?
Voters traditionally vote their pockets and pocketbooks. And on that, Trump is winning big. The economy, under Obama, faltered and stutter-stepped; the economy, just one year into Trump’s administration, is soaring.
In fact, the economy’s improving so rapidly, Republicans might even benefit from having Obama hit the Democratic campaign trail. He’ll serve as a reminder of how dreary the economy was just a short time ago — the face of failure, so to speak.
Besides, remember in October 2017 when Obama made several public appearances on behalf of Hillary Clinton, imploring voters to vote for her — and in particular, imploring black voters to vote for her?
“Obama returns to campaign trail to rally black voters,” the New York Times blasted back then.
“Obama’s back. Will Democrats listen?” blared CNN, around the same time.
Well, we know the answer to that, don’t we? Obama, already the face of a failed economy, proved to be the face of a failed campaigner, as well.
As Pew Research Center wrote in May 2017: “Black voter turnout fell in 2016, even as a record number of Americans cast ballots. … The black voter turnout rate declined for the first time in 20 years in a presidential election, falling to 59.6 percent in 2016 after reaching a record high 66.6 percent in 2012.”
FiveThirtyEight.com found similarly.
“White voters without college degrees, by far Trump’s strongest demographic group, were disproportionately concentrated in swing states, while Clinton’s coalition of minorities and college-educated whites (but with declining turnout among black voters) produced huge gains for her in states such as California and Texas without winning her any additional electoral votes,” the polling and survey site wrote in January of 2017. Key phrase: “[D]eclining turnout among black voters.”
Suddenly, Obama’s much-ballyhooed campaigning doesn’t so very threatening for Republicans after all.
Factor in the bump America workers are due to feel in their paychecks in the coming months — in the coming core campaign months, that is — because of Trump’s hard-won tax cuts and what’s shaping up is a very competitive election cycle, at best, for Democrats to fight. At worst?
They might as well stay home and watch the GOP election wins on TV.
Sorry, Dems, Obama’s star power just isn’t that strong to subdue the economic light this current administration’s casting. Republicans may have a fight on their hands. But if Democrats’ strategy is to stand tight and hold hands with Obama — let ‘em.
Republicans’ strategy ought to be to stand tight and stand strong with Trump. On the biggest issue of the economy, there’s nothing with Trump to flee.
Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.