After former President Barack Obama’s first appearance at the White House since 2017, a columnist for The Washington Post is arguing that the nation “needs” him to return to the political scene.
In a column on Tuesday, Dana Milbank wrote, “The 44th president returned to the White House Tuesday for the first time since he left office five years ago. Fit and vigorous, if a bit grayer and more wrinkly.”
“Though he retains ‘more than a passing interest in the course of our democracy,’ he said, ‘I’m outside the arena,'” he continued.
Milbank argued, “Therein lies the problem. President Obama: Your country needs you. Democracy is on the ropes. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for the ship of state, and no one is better able to help the cause than Obama.”
From @Milbank: President Obama, your country needs youhttps://t.co/3sVXklEUB4
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) April 6, 2022
The columnist went on, “America desperately needs Obama in the arena — although not necessarily in the Biden White House.”
Milbank noted that while Obama was at the White House it “invited comparisons to his less charismatic and much older successor” and suggested that President Joe Biden “still seemed to be playing Obama’s understudy.”
“Obama was all smiles, waves, winks, nods and cocked eyebrows to his ebullient fans, whom he shushed after 25 seconds of applause. ‘Feels good, doesn’t it?’ Vice President Harris remarked,” he wrote.
By contrast, Biden “was stiff, standing with hands clasped before him and his lips forming a tight line.”
“More jokes followed, in that Obama cadence, and a style that sounded extemporaneous even though he was glancing at a teleprompter. Biden coughed, took out a hankie and discreetly blew his nose,” he added.
Videos from the event surfaced online that appeared to show a greater interest in the former president rather than Biden.
Obama came to the White House today, immediately got mobbed, and no one wanted to talk to Biden. pic.twitter.com/69B2H92XVV
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 5, 2022
You don't have to be a Biden supporter to recognize how sad this clip is, with the president trying in vain to get the attention of the former president. Obama is too busy enjoying the adulation to even turn around. https://t.co/WeNSKg4uVj
— Brit Hume (@brithume) April 6, 2022
Milbank added that Obama “wasn’t trying to steal the show.”
“’Feels like the good old days,’” Biden said, beginning a speech that was, as usual, serviceable, with the occasional struggle over a word, the squinting at the teleprompter, the puzzling aside, the stage whisper,” he wrote.
Despite his assessment that Obama should return to the “arena,” Milbank cautioned, “Democrats shouldn’t delude themselves into thinking things would be better now if only Obama were in charge.”
Milbank explained, “For all his political skill, he was savaged in 2010 by demonization, disinformation and reflexive opposition similar to what Biden faces today.”
“Obama hasn’t been entirely silent; he stumped in Virginia for Terry McAuliffe and spoke to House Democrats, for example,” he wrote.
However, Milbank added, “As a celebrated former president, and the first Black president, he’s in an unrivaled position to mobilize Americans in defense of democracy. This is no time to be outside the arena.”
