Some people in the anti-Trump coalition must wonder why former President Obama does not come out of retirement and start laying onto the current president with a will. Trump has been busily trying to undo Obama’s legacy with moderate success. To be sure Obamacare is not gone yet, but the former president’s regulatory regime is being dismantled a piece at a time. The difference in foreign policy is simply breathtaking, with hopeful results, However, as it turns out, the unexpected voice of reason on this matter happens to be Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, former presidential candidate, former DNC chair, and current annoyance,
Why Obama should remain quiet
Dean points out that the moment Obama speaks against Trump, the Republican base and a considerable amount of independents will rally around the current president.
Obama would also provide a convenient target for Trump to tweet about that, for once, many of his supporters would not cringe about. Dean concluded by saying that Obama is now part of the Democratic Party’s past. It is now time for younger Democrats (meaning not Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren) to take up the burden of saving the nation from Donald Trump.
Obama was a divider and not a uniter
Like Trump, Obama has always been a divider and not a uniter. The difference has been that while Trump has been loud and blustery, Obama was always cold and snarky. He was the master of the sanctimonious statement that attacked policies he didn’t like with the catch phrase, “That’s not who we are.” He also frequently implied that people who opposed him were racist or in other wise did not have the best interests of the United States at heart.
The effect of Obama’s political MO was to puff himself up among his supporters but also to infuriate everyone else. The Tea Party movement rose, in part, as a reaction to the former president’s superior attitude and his condescension. Obama’s policies were not popular with many Americans. His personality was sometimes downright grating.
The former president has had an unfortunate effect on American political discourse, Obama’s tactic of attacking the motivations and character of his political opponents has been taken up by people on both sides of the political divide, If you oppose the progressive agenda, you must be a Nazi is the current mantra. Trump, on the other hand, is a past master of the well times, Twitter insult.
With him, the attacks are usually directed at individuals. With Obama and his successors, entire groups of people are marginalized on a regular basis, being accused of clinging to their God or their guns or of being deplorable's. In a way, the Obama presidency was just one long, drawn out red wedding, though with many more characters assassinated than people murdered. America remembers, and so does Howard Dean.
