Only one 2024 candidate has a former President campaigning on their behalf this October.
And it's not the one who committed 34 felonies to cover up the crime that stole the election in 2016, then later launched an insurrection in a desperate attempt to stay in power after 81 million voters fired him in 2020.
In fact, seeing as Donald Trump has been called unfit for office by virtually everyone who worked for him while he was president, Vice President Harris has a virtual lock on former elected officials—from both parties—willing to appear with her and campaign on her behalf this fall.
But Obama is unique
No one can get under Trump's skin quite like Obama can.
No one embodies the idea that America can be a meritocracy in which one's ascent to the nation's highest office can be earned on talent alone, not inherited or stolen by a mediocre white guy who happened to be born on third base.
No one can explain why character does, indeed, matter when choosing a leader—even though Republicans must pretend otherwise because, having traded principles for power, they now are obliged to show fealty to the most immoral and digusting slob who ever sat in the Oval Office.
No one can explain how Trump's presidency failed on the economy quite like Obama can. As CNN highlighted, Obama pushed back on the lies that Trump still tells about economy, puncturing a myth that has long been reliably parroted by the compliant mainstream media.
No one can explain to Black men so clearly and, as NPR reported, in such "in blunt terms" why they need to "get over their reluctance to support Harris." Obama not only exposed the weakness at the heart of Trump's schoolyard-bully version of masculinity, he reminded every Black man watching that Trump "has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person."
Barack is back—and on a mission
When Obama took the stage on October 10 at a rally for Harris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was obvious that he was on a personal mission to save America from its worst impulses—and from a repeat of its massive 2016 election mistake. (Watch the full speech here.)
Obama ripped into Trump for his disaster aid lies, roasted him for selling everything from sneakers to watches to Bibles—and leaned into the idea of his age-related decline when an audience member screamed a diaper joke.
As he proved in the 2022 midterms, a fired-up Obama is the best closer you could ask for in the final days of a close election.
Kamala Harris has built a powerful coalition that is likely to dominate the popular vote by impressive margins. (According to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll nearly 1 in 10 (9%) of Republicans may be voting for Harris this year.)
To counter that, the GOP is flooding the zone with shitpolls, a strategy that helped convince many in the media that a Red Wave was coming in 2022, until midterm voters proved them wrong.
This year, in addition to shitpolls, Republicans also have Elon's cash, bribes, and relentlessly dishonest tweets—plus Polymarket, which appears to be a Peter Thiel psy ops operation masquerading as an election prediction site.
The goal is to create a false narrative with Republicans that a Trump victory is inevitable—unless, of course, Democrats cheat. Trump (and Musk and Thiel) want to make sure millions of Americans are pre-programmed to reject even the possibility of defeat. Meanwhile, they're targeting Dems with messages designed to demoralize, reduce turnout, and make people doubt the grassroots enthusiasm that is helping Harris accelerate toward the finish line.
Obama is America's most trusted messenger
No one can counter Trump's and the GOP's lies quite like Obama can.
No one has been lied about so viciously—from "birtherism" to "terrorist fist bumps" to 1 in 4 Americans being convinced, by 2013, that he was "the antichrist"—and come out of it the other side so enduringly popular and untainted by scandal.
Obama is the living proof that, as we see with Trump and JD Vance, conservatives are happy to lie and smear with abandon no matter who they hurt. And no matter how often their lies get exposed as complete fabrications. The GOP leans into falsehoods (and gerrymandering and voter suppression and insurrections) because it's easier for them than coming up with any policies that might actually attract more voters.
Obama reminds everyone that being the President can, indeed, be a "Black job."
He's the best person to remind us that he did a far, far better job as President than the "bumbling billionaire" Donald Trump.
He's the most credible person to contrast his own stellar record with Trump's four-year record of failure.
He's the best person to remind us that Trump is really, truly, absolutely vile on every level—divisive, dishonest, and more more concerned with personal gain than the welfare of the American people. And totally unfit to serve four more years as president.
Barack Obama reminds us that it is possible for America to elect a President who's exceptional, effective, engaging, and empathetic.
This year, that candidate's name is Kamala Harris.
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