Former President Obama is terrified for his legacy after Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris got crushed in a landslide victory by President-elect Donald Trump.
That is the word from his biographer, who slammed the former president for “talking down” to voters in “tone-deaf and clueless” preaching before the election, The Daily Mail reported.
Trump’s victory, combined with the way Obama spoke to voters, could destroy the latter’s political relevance, biographer David Garrow said in an interview with the outlet.
“People do not want to be talked down to, no matter who they are. I thought it was tone-deaf and clueless for them to preach as they did. I would expect that perception will be shared by lots of people. If so, I think it reduces their relevance to Bill Clinton territory,” Garrow said.
The biographer said that after the president-elect destroyed the vice president in a resounding victory, former President Obama became “nervous” about his legacy.
“He has been and remains extremely concerned and nervous about his historical legacy,” he said. “That has certainly taken a big hit with Trump once again triumphing.”
Garrow said that because of the drubbing that Democrats took in not only the presidential campaign but the Senate and many House contests, the Party will not want the old guard campaigning for them in the future.
“The conclusion for Democrats is that they’ve got to dispense with these people from the past, including Hillary Clinton too, and move to a new generation of figures who are not in the AOC club at all,” he said.
But, he said, the former president still has the star power to command massive speaking fees.
“I’m not sure that would necessarily decline. He still has the celebrity factor of being an ex-president,” he said.
He said that now that the election is done he anticipates that the former president and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, will “continue to hang out with celebrities and live on Martha’s Vineyard.”
“I certainly expect them to be spending less time in Washington after early January,” the biographer said.
“They’re not under any financial pressure,” he said. “I don’t expect them to sell the DC house. They haven’t sold the Chicago house even though they spend like two nights a year there.”
And he said that he does not believe that the former president was involved with he pressure campaign to remove President Joe Biden from the ticket.
“Before Biden withdrew, I said that if he had the impression that Barack was pushing him to get out, that would backfire because Biden has had very sore feelings going back eight years now, that he didn’t think Barack sufficiently respected him,” he said.
“I think the ‘credit’ for that goes largely to Nancy Pelosi,” he said.
Former President Barack Obama released a statement after Vice President Kamala Harris’ blowout election loss to former President Donald Trump.
In a statement posted to social media, Obama partially admitted to a few reasons that were responsible for Harris’s defeat.
“As I said on the campaign trail, America has been through a lot over the last few years — from a historic pandemic and price hikes resulting from the pandemic, to rapid change and the feeling a lot of folks have that, no matter how hard they work, treading water is the best they can do,” Obama said.
“Those conditions have created headwinds for democratic incumbents around the world, and last night showed that America is not immune. The good news is that these problems are solvable — but only if we listen to each other, and only if we abide by the core constitutional principles and democratic norms that made this country great,” Obama added.
