Liberal Commentator Explains Why Obama Would Have Lost Against Trump
- 7 years ago
President Obama has speculated that he could have beaten Donald Trump in a hypothetical third-term run, but not everyone agrees.
President Obama recently speculated that he could have beaten Donald Trump in a hypothetical third-term run.
During an interview with CNN’s David Axelrod on 'The Axe Files' podcast aired Monday, Obama said, “I'm confident that if I -- if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.”
He added, “I know that in conversations that I’ve had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one.”
While Obama has high approval ratings currently, not everyone agrees. Politico Magazine published an op-ed by Bill Scher, a political commentator, who argues that despite his own liberal views, he does not think Obama would have won against Trump.
In fact, he calls the president’s arguments “weak.”
Scher states that “...the Electoral College majority recoiled not only from [Hillary Clinton], but also from Obama’s implementation of his multicultural vision.”
Part of the issue, he argues, is the way race is believed to have tinged people’s attitudes towards Obamacare and of the president himself--for example, when he talked about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Furthermore, discussing the voters in the Rust Belt, Scher notes that while the economy has performed well nationally, "Obama didn’t have...a singular, regional accomplishment from his second term to prove he was looking out for the still-struggling white-working class."
Trump, meanwhile, has been outspoken about Obama’s comments, tweeting on December 26, “President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! - jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.”
President Obama recently speculated that he could have beaten Donald Trump in a hypothetical third-term run.
During an interview with CNN’s David Axelrod on 'The Axe Files' podcast aired Monday, Obama said, “I'm confident that if I -- if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.”
He added, “I know that in conversations that I’ve had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one.”
While Obama has high approval ratings currently, not everyone agrees. Politico Magazine published an op-ed by Bill Scher, a political commentator, who argues that despite his own liberal views, he does not think Obama would have won against Trump.
In fact, he calls the president’s arguments “weak.”
Scher states that “...the Electoral College majority recoiled not only from [Hillary Clinton], but also from Obama’s implementation of his multicultural vision.”
Part of the issue, he argues, is the way race is believed to have tinged people’s attitudes towards Obamacare and of the president himself--for example, when he talked about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Furthermore, discussing the voters in the Rust Belt, Scher notes that while the economy has performed well nationally, "Obama didn’t have...a singular, regional accomplishment from his second term to prove he was looking out for the still-struggling white-working class."
Trump, meanwhile, has been outspoken about Obama’s comments, tweeting on December 26, “President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! - jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.”