Obama Returns Campaign to Help Democrats in November 8th Elections

Obama is more popular than he was then, and is now President Joe Biden, his former deputy, who faces the risk of losing in November.

Former President Obama will start Friday with Georgia's state a trip to countries where competitions are winding and then to Michigan and Wisconsin, followed by stops next week in Nevada and Pennsylvania.

The track, which includes gatherings with democratic candidates for federal and state offices, comes as Mr. Biden and the Democrats try to undermine the hard republican campaign to overthrow the narrow majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate. This effort also aims to win mayoral key positions ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.

While positive American opinion assessments of President Biden's work have fallen below 40% and facing inflation, for senator candidates such as Raphael Warnock from Georgia and Catherine Cortez Musto from Nevada, Obama is a welcome supporter.

“Obama has a rare place in our politics today,” said David Axelrod, who was one of the architects of Mr Obama's campaigns since his days as Senator of Illinois and two presidential elections.

It undoubtedly encourages many Democrats to vote. But it is also liked by independent voters”.

Neither President Biden nor former President Donald Trump can say the same thing, notes Mr. Axelrod and others, even though both have intensified their campaign before the November 8th elections.

“Barack Obama is the best public speaker we have in our party and he is the most popular political figure in the country in each party”, said Bakari Selers, Democrat from South Carolina and prominent political commentator.

Obama left office in January 2017 with a positive popular assessment of 59%. Organization “Gallup 148x1> measured support for him a year later, showing that 63% of respondents had a positive opinion of him, the last time the organisation conducted research on former presidents. This is markedly higher than the positive assessments he had in 2010, when the Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives during elections that Mr. Obama called “disference”.

In the next election, held among the presidential mandate, four years later, the Republicans also took control of the Senate.

Mr. Biden traveled to Syracuse, New York, on Thursday to campaign in a district that is in the race on November 8th.

The “Democrats are building a better America for all with an economy ... where everyone does well”, Biden said.

However, Lis Smith, the democrat stratege, said Mr. Obama is in a better position to talk about the economy before Americans who have not decided on whom to vote or vote at all.

If it's just a direct referendum on democrats and the economy, then we are desperate”, said Mrs. Smith, acknowledging that no ruling party wants to run until the country faces inflation that is not falling.

“But you have to direct the debate towards what people have to choose between the two parties and highlight the differences between them”.

President Obama, she said, did this in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, winning many white working class voters and others that we do not see as part of the regular “group pro Obama”.

Among his mandates as president, when mid-term elections were held, he could not repeat the same message until he led the country, but this time he is not president. Mrs. Smith and Mr. Axelrod said this means President Obama can be positioned more skillfully to protect the Democrats' achievements. He can talk about actions to reduce inflation, the helpful package for confronting the RS-19 virus pandemic, though this latter has been avoided by the Democrats, since the Republicans are guilty of inflation.

Ms. Smith said President Obama could remind voters of years of republican attacks on his 2010 healthcare law, which now appears to be a permanent and generally accepted part of the US health insurance market.

Beyond these policy arguments, Mr. Selers noted that Obama, as the first coloured president, “connects especially with African-American voters and other racial minority groups”.

In Atlanta, he will campaign for Wolack candidate, first colored senator in Georgia's history of state, and Stacey Abrams, who is competing to become the first colored female governor of the same American state. Mr. Warnock faces a fierce race from Republican candidate Herschel Walker, who is also American African. Lady Abrams is trying to bring down Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who beat him with difficulty four years ago.

With the Senate now divided 50-50 between the two main parties and Vice President Kamala Harris giving the Democrats the decisive vote, any competition for Senate on November 8th could decide which party controls it for the next two years.

Increasing support for Mr Obama is a turning point compared to when he was president and elections held similar to those held on November 8th, amid presidential mandates. Although this is not uncommon. “Most of them, probably not President Trump, but most of them are better seen after leaving task”, said Mr. Axelrod.

Especially during Obama's presidency, former President Bill Clinton offered significant assistance, especially for moderates trying to survive republican growth in 2010 and 2014. Mr. Clinton was also a key voice for President Obama's 2012 re-election attempt.

“Bill Clinton was the most valuable factor for us in 2012”, said Mr. Axelrod.

Now, former President Clinton has been out of the White House for two decades and movement “ #With Too” has forced people to reevaluate their history of allegations of sexual misconduct.

But Mr. Axelrod said former presidents Obama and Clinton have a similar approach.

It that unites Clinton and Obama is a kind of unique ability to clarify the complex political arguments of the time, using reasonable terms”, said Mr. Axelrod.

They can explain. I think you'll notice this when he starts the campaign. / VOA