Presidents of the United States necessarily lead. Because decisions must be made, they have no choice. But once they are no longer president, they do have a choice. Especially if they are reasonably healthy, they can choose to be active in public life or entirely to withdraw. To have a different sort of life, one that avoids a leadership role of any kind.
Barack Obama has chosen the latter. Though he was still relatively young when he left the White House – not yet 55 – in the eight years since he has been a purely private citizen. A citizen so private that you’re unlikely to know what he’s been doing all this time unless you look it up.
Obviously, this is his right. During his two terms in the White House the former president appeared to devote himself fully to being a public servant. But Obama’s near total disappearance from the political scene does raise the question of whether someone like him – a political rock star – owes the American people anything during what is widely perceived a time of national crisis. A time when democracy as the United States has known it for almost 250 years is in peril because the nominee of one of the two major parties has repeatedly made clear, in countless ways on countless occasions, his intention to destroy it. We the American people must take him at his word: believe Donald Trump when he says that if wins reelection to the White House in November he will seek to change the Constitution, engage in “retribution,” and radically alter America at home and its role abroad.
Trump is a threat to the nation’s well-being even if he loses the election. Our only hope of avoiding domestic chaos in the weeks and months after Election Day is not only to have Joe Biden win reelection but to win so decisively as to delegitimize, in so far as possible, the claim that the election was rigged.
There are signs that Obama gets the threat. Last week he visited the White House and last night he participated in a major Biden fundraiser. But these sorts of pro forma gestures are not nearly, not nearly, enough. This time around Barack Obama must, in contrast to last time Joe Biden ran for the White House, play a more active part. A part that lasts not weeks but months, that is as consistent as persistent, that is as lucid, unambiguous, and forceful.
Obama is obligated to do no less. Not legally, obviously. But because the American people not once but twice bestowed on him the honor of electing him president, he owes it to them, to us, to the United States of America, to do everything he reasonably can to reelect Joe Biden. To reelect as president the man who for eight years was his competent and constant vice president.
It now appears this will be a close election. Biden’s approval ratings are middling at best; he still comes across as too old for the office; some of his domestic policies are demonstrably contentious; and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are continuing to rage. It equally appears that Biden is weak with traditional Democratic constituencies such as African Americans, Latinos, young people, and progressives. Which is precisely where, and why, Obama must step up. He must remind those who would constitute his target audiences that not only do he and the incumbent president now have a close political relationship that goes back many years, but that they share a world view, including on the economy and on key policies such as health care and reproductive rights.
When Barack Obama twice took the presidential oath of office, he swore to the best of his ability to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” It was a solemn promise that did not expire when he retired.
A final note: I seem to recall that during Barack Obama’s two term presidency Michelle Obama was First Lady. I further seem to recall that she was enormously popular with the American people, an influencer if ever there was one. Wouldn’t hurt then for her to get out on the stump. For her between now and November similarly to make clear that Trump is a threat. Unless, of course, she thinks otherwise – prefers that Biden loses and Trump wins.