Barack Obama
November 23, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
The victory of Nathan Hochman over Menendez groupie George Gascon drew considerable coverage, and rightly so. The Chesa Boudin clone had to go, and so did LA city councilman Kevin de Leon. In 2022, he was heard on tape comparing the black adopted son of fellow council member to “a Louis Vuitton bag.” De Leon survived a recall attempt but on November 5 lost to newcomer Ysabel Jurado. De Leon
»
November 15, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
His [Donald Trump’s] first term was undermined by Obama allies in U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and there’s evidence that the heart of the resistance is now ensconced inside the Pentagon and already poised to fight him. That was the intrepid Lee Smith in “Obama’s Not Going Anywhere” on Tablet. As Robert Spencer notes at Frontpage, the evidence is already appearing. A plea-bargain deal for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh
»
November 11, 2024 — Scott Johnson
David Samuels and David Garrow explored “The Obama factor” in the classic 2023 Tablet column/discussion. Commenting on Obama’s post-presidential residence in Washington, D.C., Samuels observed: [I]it was clear to any informed observer that the Obamas’ continuing presence in the nation’s capital was not purely a personal matter. To an extent that has never been meaningfully reported on, the Obamas served as both the symbolic and practical heads of the Democratic
»
November 10, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Writing for The Scroll, Tablet‘s Substack, Park MacDougald has quickly established himself as one of my favorite columnists. On the day before the election Park drew attention to the January 17, 2017 transcript of “Remarks by the president in roundtable with progressive journalists.” At the time “the president” was still Barack Obama. Hans Mahncke and Jeff Carlson note that the transcript was dredged up in 2022 via the Freedom of
»
November 9, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
There were appeals to racism in this campaign, and there is racial bias in this country and there is sexism in this country, and anybody who thinks that that did not in any way impact on the outcome of this race is wrong. As Sir Bedevire (Terry Jones) might say, who is this who is so wise in the ways of politics? Why, it’s David Axelrod explaining why Kamala Harris
»
November 8, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
This is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for, given our profound disagreements with the Republican ticket on a whole host of issues. But living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won’t always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power. Thus spake Barack Obama in a statement Scott has posted in full. It’s predictable boilerplate but consider the timing.
»
November 8, 2024 — Scott Johnson
President Obama campaigned for Kamala Harris and reminded us of his contribution to the first coming of President Trump. Obama remains a malicious force in the Democratic Party and in American politics. There is something un-American about his refusal to retreat into the silence of a decent retirement from politics in which he has become “rich beyond the dreams of avarice” after eight destructive years in office. Now he has
»
November 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Barack Obama has entered from stage left to instruct American Jews to return to the Democratic fold in their usual numbers. The video below captures him in Milwaukee this weekend retailing the “very fine people” lie. The high-handed arrogance of this riff is incredible. "If you’re a Jewish American worried about the rise of antisemitism,why would you place your faith in somebody who sat down for pleasantries with Holocaust deniers,
»
October 23, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
“Burgerism is the new birtherism,” proclaims the Telegraph, a lame quip now making the rounds. Burgerism is Trump’s part-time gig at McDonald’s, as John notes, now drawing pushback from Democrats. On the other hand, “birtherism” might prompt people to wonder, like Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, “what’s that from?” Back in 2008, a Hillary Clinton staffer circulated a rumor that rival candidate Sen. Barack Obama was
»
October 11, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
“Former President Barack Obama sternly chided Black men over ‘excuses’ to not vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” ABC News reports. This recalls Joe Biden’s charge that blacks “ain’t black” if they failed to support the Delaware Democrat. On the left being “black” is a matter of politics, and that recalls one of the many attacks on author Thomas Sowell. Back in the 1990s Clinton civil rights pick Lani Guinier
»
August 21, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The DNC featured Michelle and Barack Obama as the keynote speakers at last night’s festivities. Time has posted the transcript of President Obama’s remarks here. I have posted the video below. Time assesses the transcript a “19 minute read.” On a feels-like basis, I would adjust the minutes to hours. James Lynch and Brittany Bernstein have a straight news account of Mrs. Obama’s remarks here at NRO. Peter Savodnik contrasts
»
July 28, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
[On this 20th anniversary of the convention speech that propelled Barack Obama to the top of America’s political hierarchy, worth recalling key influences that have been airbrushed out of most media treatments. Perhaps there are parallels with his current successor nominee?] Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? You don’t know. You’re just like the rest of these young cats out here. All you know is that college is the next
»
July 25, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
On July 27, 2004 at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, 42-year-old Illinois state senator Barack Obama stepped to the podium and told the delegates: On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, land of Lincoln, let me express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention. Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is
»
July 21, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The sage Michael Doran adds two notes to a New York Times story about President Biden’s possible or pending departure from the 2024 presidential race. Doran highlights the New York Times story “Secluded in Rehoboth, Biden Stews at Allies’ Pressure to Drop Out of the Race,” by Peter Baker, Michael Shear, and Katie Rogers. This NYT article about Biden edging closer to dropping out of the race contains two nuggets.
»
June 30, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
As “Obama’s narrator” David Axelrod conceded in Believer, even voters who supported Barack Obama found serious problems with his policies. While many consider Obama a bust, in some ways he could be the most successful president of all time. As Barry Rubin noted in Silent Revolution, the president enjoyed great success at selling the idea that the statist, high-regulation policies that had failed so spectacularly in Europe were precisely what America needed.
»
June 28, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Following last night’s disastrous performance, the Democratic Party is circling the wagons around Joe Biden. Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the… — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June
»
June 9, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley
On Thursday, during the Celtics-Mavericks playoff game, Joe Biden ran an ad attacking Donald Trump and claiming “the promise of American democracy will not break.” As viewers may have noted, “American democracy” marks a shift from “our democracy,” a euphemism that derives from the composite character David Garrow described in Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama. In 1965, his mother Ann Dunham married Indonesian student Lolo Soetoro, and in
»
