Thanks to a “leaked” phone call, former President Barack Obama is back in the news. Although he has been conspicuously noncommittal for most of this election cycle, Obama’s agenda for 2020 is finally revealed. Obama and the rest of the Democrat establishment are ramping up efforts to block the re-election of President Donald Trump. True to form, they are relying on misinformation, repeating lie after polished lie, until it sounds like the truth.
Obama’s Agenda, Part 1: Gather the Troops
Speaking privately to 3000 former members of his administration, the ex-President made several strong comments leveled at his successor. He criticized President’s Trump’s supposed mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, blasting his response as “tribal,” “anemic” and “spotty.”
But Obama saved his largest criticism for the Justice Department. The DOJ dropped the charges against Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who briefly served as National Security Advisor for President Trump.
Obama used these as a jumping-off point, saying he would be taking a more direct role in the election. But let’s take a look at each of his major claims.
Obama’s Agenda, Part 2: Stoke Coronavirus Fears
Obama took aim at President Trump’s America-focused response to the COVID-19 crisis. “What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, we’re seeing that internationally as well,” he said.
“It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty. It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”
The REAL Coronavirus Response
Those remarks sound damning. However, they ignore the truth about how President Trump reacted with urgency and accuracy. They also leave out what top Democrats were doing while the President took action.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany destroyed Obama’s remarks when she said, “President Trump’s coronavirus response has been unprecedented and saved American lives. While Democrats were pursuing a sham witch hunt against President Trump, President Trump was shutting down travel from China.”
“While Democrats encouraged mass gatherings, President Trump was deploying PPE, ventilators, and testing across the country.”
Obama’s Agenda, Part 3: Imply Legal Favoritism
The former president made ominous accusations about the dismissal of charges against Flynn. “The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed — about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn,” he told theObama Alumni Association.
“And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”
Phrased just so, it sounds like the legal process is at-risk due to political, even Executive, meddling. He insinuated that because Flynn, convicted of a serious crime, was getting off “scot-free”, we are on the road to disaster.
The REAL Flynn Story
However, Obama, who touted understanding of the law, purposefully misspoke. Flynn was not convicted of perjury. On the contrary, as part of a plea bargain, Flynn plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI. That is a very distinct difference.
Even Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in his report that Flynn should receive little to no jail time and that he “deserves credit for accepting responsibility in a timely fashion and substantially assisting the government.”
Then there is the issue of overreach during the Mueller investigation. As the Justice Department’s federal filing noted, FBI agents did not have a justifiable reason to question National Security Advisor Flynn about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in the first place.
In other words, they pushed ahead with questions they had no right to ask, and then filed charges when someone above their pay grade didn’t give them information they weren’t entitled to at all.
Obama’s Agenda, Part 4: Jumping In
The ex-President used these as reasons for his re-entry into the political arena. “That’s why, I, by the way, am going to be spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden,” he said.
“So I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do. Whenever I campaign, I’ve always said, ‘Ah, this is the most important election.’ Especially obviously when I was on the ballot, that always feels like it’s the most important election. This one — I’m not on the ballot — but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this happen.”
Democrats in Panic Mode
Yet the truth of Obama’s agenda is not really shaped by any actions of the Trump Administration. Rather it is a form of damage control made necessary by former Vice President Biden’s own current status, public gaffes, and now, sexual assault allegations. A perfect storm of historic proportions threatens the possibility of Biden victory in November.
The coronavirus lockdown has the ex-VP sitting on the sidelines, instead of campaigning. He gives speeches online in a desperate bid to stay relevant. Yet unlike President Trump, he doesn’t have any actual authority or responsibility. Right now, all he has are empty words.
Perhaps keeping Biden off the campaign trail and the debate stage is a blessing in disguise for the Dems. In speeches, he regularly loses his train of thought, going off on rambling tangents that make no sense.
Finally, there are the disturbing sexual assault allegations made by former staffer Tara Reade. Her story is credible enough that there is currently an official police investigation underway. It looks bad for Biden, because witnesses and court records show that Reade first mentioned the situation decades ago. This isn’t a too-convenient-to-be-true claim right before the election.
The real truth of Obama’s agenda seems to be saving the Democrat Party. He is trying to shift the focus away from the fact that once again, the Left is backing the wrong candidate.