From hero to zero: Obama's fading grip on the Democratic Party

There was a time when Barack Obama was seen as the Democratic Party’s anchor — the calm strategist behind the curtain, possibly steering Joe Biden’s presidency from a secluded perch in Washington’s elite Kalorama neighborhood. Some even speculated Michelle Obama would emerge as the surprise nominee to rescue the party from electoral disaster in 2024.

But those grand ideas have fizzled. A recent CNN poll paints a stark picture — only 4% of Democrats say Obama represents their party’s leadership. That puts him behind Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , Kamala Harris, and Bernie Sanders. Once an untouchable icon, Obama now appears out of sync and out of favor.

While the Democratic establishment scrambled to contain the fallout from Biden’s catastrophic debate performance last summer, the former president was, according to the book Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House, curiously absent. “He was alerted to the catastrophe by his phone . . . Obama kept his thoughts to himself that night, but his proxies didn’t afford Biden the same courtesy.”

Indeed, while advisers like David Axelrod and the Pod Save America crew launched subtle campaigns to nudge Biden out, Obama maintained public silence. Behind closed doors, however, he was reportedly lobbying for a “mini-primary” to replace Biden — and specifically to block Harris from ascending.

“The mini-primary was Obama’s way of trying to kneecap Harris,” the book claims. Pelosi, for her part, was no fan either. “Pelosi’s biggest initial fear had been about Harris,” it says. “She actually was worried when people were panicking the night of the debate, saying, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to be her.’”

At one critical juncture, the book recounts a conversation where Obama called Biden and bluntly asked, “What is your path?” Biden, frustrated, reportedly thought, “What’s my path? What’s your f–king plan?”

With public pressure mounting, Obama allegedly relied on allies to do the “wet work.” One of those allies was George Clooney, who, after a pep talk from Obama, wrote a scathing New York Times op-ed urging Biden to step aside.

“Clooney’s words so closely reflected Obama’s thinking that the op-ed might as well have carried the former president’s byline,” the authors write. “Obama didn’t want to get his own hands dirty — couldn’t face leaving bloody fingerprints on Biden’s political corpse — but he hoped others would shoulder the wet work.”

Yet things didn’t go as Obama had planned. Biden shocked everyone on July 21, 2024, by quitting the race — and endorsing Kamala Harris in the same breath. Obama was sidelined from that decision. Jim Clyburn also outmaneuvered him, endorsing Harris even before Obama could call to push for a primary.

Clooney, once a proud Obama supporter, reportedly exploded in anger when MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski suggested on air that Obama may have ghostwritten the op-ed. “How the f–k could you let her link me with Barack Obama, saying he made me write the op-ed?” he reportedly screamed at a producer, according to Uncharted, another book about the 2024 race.

Today, Obama is back on the speaker circuit, warning about Trump’s return and urging sacrifice: “Law firms being threatened . . . might have to say, okay, we will lose some business.” But his words are falling flat, especially when they come from a man with three (or maybe four) luxury properties who’s never had to make real sacrifices himself.

As one Democratic insider bluntly told the authors: “He left the Democratic Party far weaker than he found it. Obama destroyed that s–t.”