The man who once vowed to “fundamentally transform” America is back, and this time, he’s got advice for his flailing party. And you know what? I’m laughing. Barack Obama waltzed into a private New Jersey fundraiser Friday night, positioning himself as the wise elder statesman ready to guide Democrats back to power. But his message was so tone-deaf, so utterly lacking in self-awareness, that it almost sounded like a setup. If Democrats actually take his advice, Republicans should be celebrating.
"I think it's going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions," Obama told the crowd, according to excerpts that The Hill obtained. "And it's going to require Democrats to just toughen up."
Of course, this comes from the same man who, upon entering the Oval Office, went around the world on an apology tour. But, the question I have is: How much tougher can the Democrats get? Sen. Alex Padilla’s crying aside, this is the same party that pushed the Russia collusion hoax, tried to imprison Trump, raided his home like he was a drug kingpin, and peddled rhetoric so toxic that it fueled not one, but two near-assassination attempts.
Obama didn't stop there. He went after the disappointed Democrats who've checked out since Donald Trump's victory. "Don't tell me you're a Democrat, but you're kind of disappointed right now, so you're not doing anything. No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something," he said.
Here's where it gets interesting. Obama called out "progressives, liberals … who seem like they're kind of cowed and intimidated and shrinking away from just asserting what they believe.”
He then urged his party to show "courage" and defend free speech "when it's hard." He wants them to stand up even "when somebody says something that you don't like, but you still say, 'You know what, that person has the right to speak.’”
This is the same crowd that spent years silencing conservatives on social media, canceling anyone who dared question COVID narratives, and turning universities into ideological echo chambers. But sure, Barack—tell us more about standing up for free speech.
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Obama’s diagnosis completely misses the point. Democrats aren’t flailing because they lack fight — they’re flailing because they’ve ditched the values of everyday Americans. They’ve veered so far to the left that working-class voters are abandoning them in droves. And Obama’s solution? He wants them to double down.
Of course he does. He’s the one who set this radical shift in motion — normalizing fringe gender ideology, pushing socialist economics, fueling identity politics, and waging class warfare.
Obama wants Democrats to toughen up and fight harder. But here's the thing: They've been fighting. They've been fighting American traditions, constitutional principles, and common sense for years. What they really need isn't more fight, but a return to the values that once made their party relevant to regular Americans — the very values they lost under his direction.
This is no longer the party of the working class. It’s the party that scolds Americans about their so-called “privilege” while pushing policies that wreck families, crush small businesses, embolden criminals, and serve the interests of out-of-touch coastal elites who think they know better than everyone else.
This fundraiser marked Obama's first major appearance since Democrats got shellacked in 2024. He's trying to rally the troops for upcoming races in New Jersey and Virginia, telling supporters to "stop looking for the quick fix" and "stop looking for the messiah.”
"If we do our jobs over the next year and a half, then I think we will rebuild momentum, and we will position ourselves to get this country moving in the direction it should," Obama declared.
The truth is that Obama’s call for Democrats to stop “navel-gazing” is really a call to double down on the same failed policies that got them into their current mess. He’s not offering a path forward; he’s demanding that they become better foot soldiers for a movement that has already lost the American people. When the architect of your party’s decline is your best hope for a comeback, you know you’re in serious trouble.
