On Inauguration Day, 2017, I was in a car, driving from the Denver area, where I lived at the time, to Los Gatos, California, where I had a consulting gig and so was unable to watch. Instead, I listened to the proceedings on the car's satellite radio. It may have been my imagination, but to me, it seemed the displeasure in Barack Obama's voice was palpable as he handed the keys to the White House over to Donald Trump. I stopped for the night in Las Vegas, and after downing some chicken and waffles and a couple of beers out on the Strip, I watched a few video clips of those proceedings on my laptop — yeah, sure as shooting, Barack Obama didn't look very happy.
If you look at the state of affairs now concerning the presidential election in this year of 2024, Barack Obama still doesn't seem very happy.
But he's clearly up to something.
Thursday morning, my colleagues Nick Arama and Bonchie commented on different aspects of Obama's interfering — and, yes, he's interfering — with Joe Biden's reelection campaign.
First, Nick writes:
Guess who knew about Clooney's devastating op-ed beforehand and didn't do anything to stop it, according to a new report?
The guy who some think pulls some strings behind the scenes, former President Barack Obama.
According to the report, Clooney told Obama about the op-ed before it was published.
Former President Barack Obama was given a heads-up but didn’t object to Oscar-winning actor George Clooney’s bombshell call for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race, a new report says.
The Hollywood A-lister had called Obama in advance to warn him he was going to make the call in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Wednesday, sources told Politico.
The ex-president didn’t encourage Clooney to make the remarks, but didn’t try to stop him, either, the sources added.
And then, this from Bonchie:
It's not just the press that's the issue, though. A recent op-ed by George Clooney asserting that Biden should drop out of the race has set the president's campaign on fire. His handlers are responding with paranoia, and that's never a good sign.
According to a report from MSNBC's "Morning Joe," the Biden campaign now believes Barack Obama is working against them behind the scenes.
BREAKING: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough:
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 11, 2024
“What’s going on behind the scenes is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this.”
pic.twitter.com/hbMKeiskSL
So, let's take all that, add in the usual paranoia from the execrable Joe Scarborough, who wouldn't know honest and unbiased reporting if it was folded up until it was all corners and placed somewhere uncomfortable, and see if there is some conclusion we can draw.
Previously on RedState: Looks Like Barack Obama May Have Pulled Protection From Biden According to New Clooney Op-Ed Report
Desperate Biden Campaign Turns to Paranoia, Starts Attacking Major Allies, Including Barack Obama
I think there is, and it's this: Barack Obama is up to something. But what, besides running interference for Hollywood ATMs who are finally admitting to Joe Biden's incredibly obvious mental and physical deterioration?
First: I doubt he's trying to clear the way for Michelle Obama. At least in my estimation, there is zero chance Michelle Obama wants to run for president. She and her husband are living the good life; they have a beachfront mansion in Massachusetts, a tony DC home, and a house in the Chicago area. The Obamas have a net worth of about $70 million, and Michelle Obama was famously unhappy in the White House. Nowadays, she gets to jet-set around the world with her friends, living the lifestyle of the rich and famous, and if their bank account starts to droop, all she or her husband have to do is give a speech somewhere in return for a seven-figure honorarium. No, Michelle Obama is not seeking to trade that in for the most stressful job on the planet.
Second: Joe Biden is clearly incapable. Obama may be trying to extract the Democrats from a disastrous election cycle. Democrats are facing the premiere of "Trump 2: The Wrath of Trump," and they're not very happy about it. Barack Obama may see himself as the only guy willing to take on Joe Biden's power-hungry family and confidantes.
Third: Or is he up to something else? If so, what? Is he planning some coup within the Democratic Party? To install someone who, unlike Kamala Harris, may 1) be able to win an election, and 2) is his creature, not a creature of the Biden camp? Not Michelle — we have covered that — but someone else? If so, who?
Barack Obama almost certainly considers himself to be the leader of the Democratic Party, even now, eight years after leaving the White House. And why shouldn't he? The Biden administration is in free fall, the polls are swinging more and more in Donald Trump's direction, and the long knives have come out for befuddled old Joe. The Democrats are in trouble. They have no back bench. They have no promising young candidates who could win a presidential election. The party, post-Obama, has swung to the far left, a movement that originated, arguably, with Barack Obama's election, and now he's seeing all that movement come apart.
If it takes removing Joe Biden from the campaign to see his legacy maintained, I'm guessing Barack Obama is more than willing to make that effort.
