NYT Misses the Ball – Americans Want Politicians Who Keep Their Promises – Not Phonies Like Obama

The New York Times is wrong again.  This morning’s piece on the difference between Obama and President Trump is like watching a batter strike out after badly missing three pitches in a row. 

David Leonhardt shared the following in an oped at the NYT this morning in an attempt to describe why the Democrats got so badly beaten in the 2024 election.

Leonhardt begins by talking about how Obama sounded middle of the road.

It remains Barack Obama’s most underrated political skill: his appeal to working-class voters, including those who are white.
Obama won most voters without a four-year college degree in his two presidential campaigns. Those majorities helped him win Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in both campaigns. He even won Indiana and North Carolina once.

He did so by both speaking to the economic frustration that resulted from years of slow-growing wages and signaling that he, like most Americans, was moderate on social issues. He made clear that he understood people’s anxiety about the speed of cultural change.

He talked about “an awesome God” in the 2004 speech that made him a national figure. He rejected sweeping new policies like single-payer health care. He traveled to the University of Notre Dame as president and said he wanted to reduce the number of abortions. He supported civil unions rather than same-sex marriage when most voters felt similarly.

He went on MTV and complained about people who wore their pants too low. (“Some people might not want to see your underwear — I’m one of them,” Obama said.) He took a middle ground on immigration, criticizing both family separations and companies that undercut “American wages by hiring illegal workers.”

As time has passed, I think some people have forgotten how conservative Obama could sound. This approach sometimes angered progressives. They called him a sellout, a neoliberal and “the deporter in chief.” But Obama was genuinely moderate in some ways. He also hated treating political disagreements as existential and opponents as the enemy.

“This idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff — you should get over that quickly,” Obama told young activists after leaving office. “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”

Looking back, Obama certainly did “sound” middle of the road.  Trump does too.

The times goes on to show how the Democrats lost Asians, Hispanics and Black demographics when compared to 2012.  The Times claims that whites went more towards Democrats since that time.

This could be the case for various reasons.  There are more minorities in the US since 2012.  Everyone wants more safety, security and prosperity.  So what could it be?

It comes down to this as expressed in the last paragraph above – “people have forgotten how conservative Obama could sound”.  That’s it in a nutshell.

Obama could “sound” conservative but his policies were far-left, pro-Islam, communist and anti-American.  Obama gave billions to Iran.  He destroyed America’s great healthcare system.  Today, working people suffer for sometimes long periods before getting help.

Obama destroyed and weaponized the DOJ and FBI and used it against conservatives in this country, including President Trump.

Americans are not dummies that only listen and then forget what people said.  They see what people and politicians do.

President Trump fixed the economy and made it better than ever.  He stopped foreign wars and brought peace to the Middle East.  He put China and other communist nations in their place.  He stood for the American people like he said he would.

Obama was simply a liar and President Trump did what he said he would.  This is why President Trump won.  This is why Obama today is so terribly regarded.

It’s the truth stupid.