At this point in 2026, no matter your opinion of Donald Trump, I’d have guessed the expiration date of shameless rim jobs of Barack Obama had passed. But every day there’s a surprise package, in this case an I-Can’t-Stop-Writing celebration of Obama in the May 11-18 “double issue” of The New Yorker by Peter Slevin, who spoke to the former president this spring. Slevin’s not a neutral commentator—he wrote Michele Obama: A Life, spent a decade at The Washington Post and is a journalism professor at Northwestern—but a “progressive” propagandist that the TDS-New Yorker slobbers over.
The essay, headlined “Barack Obama Considers His Role In The Age Of Trump,” is MEGA hero-worship, a portrait of the 44th president that’s more a piece of, say, 2013 than today, even if Slevin writes, and quotes Obama, about current events. To get readers (those inclined to wallow in the past) in the mood, Slevin recalls one of Obama’s “farewell” events in January of 2017, a “dance party” (held on Jan. 6th, if they only knew!) studded with celebrities with whom the Obamas formed a mutual admiration Richie Rich treehouse—Magic Johnson, Oprah, Robert DeNiro, George Clooney, Barry Diller, etc., etc. and loads more etc.—that was so harmonious, if dampened by the specter of Trump, that “as dawn approached, chicken and waffles were served.” Surprisingly, the waffles chef wasn’t named.
Slevin: “Years later, Sharon Malone, a Washington doctor and the wife of former Attorney General Eric Holder, said, about that night, ‘You realized that an era was coming to an end, and it was the last moment of joy we were going to have in that White House.’ She added, ‘We were making the best of a bad situation.’”
The most galling, and dishonest, aspect of Slevin’s story, however, is that he thinks Obama not only still matters but is the Democrats’ Jesus figure in getting out the vote and riling up voters for the midterms, citing his campaign for the Democratic gerrymander initiative in Virginia (a victory, but overturned by that state’s Supreme Court after Slevin’s story was written) and his mentorship for the (so far) troubled socialist mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani. Slevin glosses over—in fact, doesn’t even mention—the waning of Obama’s influence, pinpointed when Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in 2024 and Barack and Michelle lobbied behind the scenes (and to sympathetic media acolytes) that it made no sense to anoint Kamala Harris rather than conduct a flash primary. (Obama was correct, but he was rebuffed and criticized by the Democratic establishment.)
Slevin’s also either willfully or accidentally deceitful by not mentioning, even in two paragraphs for the record, that Obama was never an effective campaigner except when his own name was on the ballot: the Democratic midterm wipeouts in 2010 and 2014 proved that. Additionally, in the last several weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, Obama did appear at large rallies for Harris (one can only imagine the contempt he has for her), angrily denouncing Trump, resulting in nothing more than exercising his lungs about the “threat to democracy,” and maybe doing favors for friends. Boredom might’ve been a factor, too. In fairness, although Slevin blasts Trump for cashing in financially in the White House (unlike predecessors, Trump makes no bones about it), he does provide a laundry list of how wealthy the former President and First Lady are now (estimated at $70 million), citing enormous book deals, extravagant speaking fees and the purchase of luxurious homes in D.C, Martha’s Vineyard and Hawaii.
No mention either, of the widespread architectural criticism of Chicago’s Barack Obama Presidential Center, opening on Juneteenth, “that reflects his commitment to grassroots organizing,” if not his “commitment” to Brutalism. (What the “sprawling training and networking operation” looks like doesn’t faze me, just another ugly complex that I’ll never visit.)
This snippet is more caloric than a triple beef Whopper with extra cheese and bacon: “Cornell Belcher, who was a member of Obama’s polling team during his two Presidential campaigns, told me that he sees an imperative for Obama to work against ‘forces of darkness—not because they’re Republican but because they’re anti-democratic.’ Belcher thinks the 2026 midterm elections will be won not just on pocketbook issue but on values and character, and by bringing people together in a multiracial coalition. ‘This moment calls for him to take a better and bigger position… We need a return of the Jedi.’”
Some Democrats running for Congress this fall, partly on an eat-the-rich platform, might be reticent to have the one-percent Obama talking to “the folks” about fascism and democracy, but Slevin mentions several polls showing his staggering popularity, which might be a draw for candidates in California, New York and Massachusetts. Coals to Newcastle, obviously, but it’s his duty! Slevin: “In other moments, he compares himself to Michael Corleone, in the “Godfather” movies, who never quite manages to escape the family business.”
Have to go! I provided the link to Slevin’s hagiography if you want to read glowing comments from Ben Rhodes (Obama speechwriter and adviser), Beto O’Rourke and David Plouffe, as well as Obama’s advice to the historically successful UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. By the way, Slevin omits the “bromance” between Obama and Bruce Springsteen, most prominent in their joint 2021 podcast (and book) Renegades: Born in the USA. Draw your own conclusions on that one.
—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER2023