OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Obama is scared for his reputation after Vice President Kamala Harris lost by a huge margin to President-elect Donald Trump.
According to The Daily Mail, his biographer said that the former president “talked down” to voters before the election and preached in a way that was “tone-deaf and clueless.”
David Garrow, Obama’s biographer, told the outlet that the winner, Trump, and the way Obama talked to people could make Obama less important in politics.
“People do not want to be talked down to, no matter who they are,” he said.
“I thought it was tone-deaf and clueless for them to preach as they did,” he added. “I would expect that perception will be shared by lots of people. If so, I think it reduces their relevance to Bill Clinton territory.”
The biographer said that after the president-elect destroyed the vice president in a resounding victory, former President Obama became “nervous” about his legacy.
“He has been and remains extremely concerned and nervous about his historical legacy,” he said. “That has certainly taken a big hit with Trump once again triumphing.”
Garrow said that because of the drubbing that Democrats took in not only the presidential campaign but the Senate and many House contests, the Party will not want the old guard campaigning for them in the future.
“The conclusion for Democrats is that they’ve got to dispense with these people from the past, including Hillary Clinton too, and move to a new generation of figures who are not in the AOC club at all,” he said.
But, he said, the former president still has the star power to command massive speaking fees.
“I’m not sure that would necessarily decline. He still has the celebrity factor of being an ex-president,” he said.
He said that now that the election is done he anticipates that the former president and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, will “continue to hang out with celebrities and live on Martha’s Vineyard.”
“I certainly expect them to be spending less time in Washington after early January,” the biographer said.
“They’re not under any financial pressure,” he said. “I don’t expect them to sell the DC house. They haven’t sold the Chicago house even though they spend like two nights a year there.”
And he said that he does not believe that the former president was involved with he pressure campaign to remove President Joe Biden from the ticket.
“Before Biden withdrew, I said that if he had the impression that Barack was pushing him to get out, that would backfire because Biden has had very sore feelings going back eight years now, that he didn’t think Barack sufficiently respected him,” he said.
“I think the ‘credit’ for that goes largely to Nancy Pelosi,” he said.
Former President Barack Obama released a statement after Vice President Kamala Harris’ blowout election loss to former President Donald Trump.
