Former President Barack Obama has mostly confined himself to private life since leaving office last year, declining to comment with any regularity on the choices of his successor. That silence is intentional and strategic, a lengthy New York magazine profile published Sunday night reveals.
Per New York, Obama has at least three significant reasons to keep quiet. First, he's following institutional tradition at a time when many institutions seem to be in flux:
Modeling his political engagement out of office after George W. Bush's, of all people — privileging the customs and traditions of our democracy rather than upending some in order to fight for others — may be among the most optimistic choices Obama has ever made. [New York]
Second, he doesn't want to crowd out new voices:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"He's recognizing that the party and our country will benefit from other voices having an opportunity to weigh in, and that opportunity would be all but completely obscured if he were regularly sharing his opinion on these issues," says [former White House Press Secretary] Josh Earnest. [New York]
And third, Obama is hyper-aware that inserting himself into the news cycle could help, rather than hinder, President Trump's agenda:
Obama believes more than ever in his capacity to spark an immediate backlash among Trump fans and to make any policy matter far more partisan. ... "It's pretty clear what President Trump's political strategy always is, which is to find a foil," says Earnest. "And with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton, his most prominent foil has been Barack Obama. That's been a very effective strategy for President Trump to galvanize his base and effectively put Republicans on Capitol Hill in the fetal position." [New York]
Read the full report on Obama's post-presidency life here.
-
Groypers: the alt-right group pulled into the foregroundThe Explainer The network is led by alt-right activist Nick Fuentes
-
10 concert tours to see this upcoming fallThe Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
How to put student loan payments on pauseThe Explainer If you are starting to worry about missing payments, deferment and forbearance can help
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
