El-Sayed’s Sudden Obama Endorsement Sparks Debate
Abdul El-Sayed’s shift from criticizing Obama to seeking his support raises questions about his campaign’s desperation.
2 min read
Former President Barack Obama is making a late push to support Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race, a move that has drawn significant scrutiny. El-Sayed, a Democrat running against Republican Mike Rogers, has spent years criticizing Obama’s presidency, yet now seeks his endorsement as his campaign faces mounting pressure.
A History of Criticism
El-Sayed’s past writings and interviews reveal a consistent critique of Obama’s policies and leadership. Following Obama’s 2012 reelection, El-Sayed wrote in a HuffPost essay that the president’s presidency had led to war, civil liberties violations, and mass deportations. He described his initial hope for change as ‘silly emotions’ and expressed little confidence in the progress made.
During the 2008 election, El-Sayed reflected on his youthful optimism, saying it was misplaced. He later stated that Obama’s policies were a ‘watered-down reform’ that catered to healthcare lobbies. Despite voting for Obama twice, he described the second vote as a ‘lesser-of-two-evils’ choice against Mitt Romney.
Continued Criticism Over the Years
As El-Sayed’s political career progressed, his criticisms of Obama remained. In 2017, he told Vox that Obama was not strong enough on health care, banking regulation, campaign finance reform, or immigration. By 2020, at a panel at the University of Chicago, he stated that the country was not better off eight years after Obama’s 2008 election, despite being a ‘deep lover’ of the president.
El-Sayed even blamed Obama for the rise of Donald Trump, warning that Democrats risked a return to the ‘edge of the cliff’ if they did not admit that nothing had changed.
A Last-Ditch Effort?
Now, as El-Sayed’s campaign faces a tight race in Michigan, his sudden praise for Obama has raised eyebrows. His campaign statement to CNN reads: ‘At 24, I watched President Obama win in 2008. He changed what was possible for someone like me… We stand on the shoulders of giants—and I can’t wait to tell him myself later this month.’
However, critics argue that this shift is more about desperation than genuine change. El-Sayed’s campaign claims he has praised Obama personally, citing a 2020 tweet that has since been deleted. This lack of concrete evidence has only fueled skepticism.
As the midterms approach, El-Sayed’s campaign appears to be grasping at straws. A candidate who truly believed in his past criticisms would not have changed his stance so abruptly, and a winning candidate wouldn’t need to rely on a last-minute endorsement.
Source: PJ Media
