(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) The fragile legacy of former President Barack Obama took another hit last week when an apparent surprise visit to a Chicago library to meet an elementary school class failed to capture the students’ attention.
Decked out in a Santa hat, Obama strolled into the room with his entourage to scattered applause. But the students seated at tables continued largely to focus on their assignment while others seemed confused about what was happening.
“Everybody seems to be working hard,” Obama lamented. “I thought we were going to have a little Christmas party, and everybody’s doing their homework.”
The students appeared to be completing an assignment that involved drawing pictures of Obama, but some may not have recognized the frail, greying figure in person until he began critiquing their portraits.
While requiring young students to create works of art celebrating Obama is not uncommon among woke public-school indoctrinators, the reaction was a far cry from Obama’s heyday, when classes would gleefully recite songs they made up about the dear leader.
Critics on both sides of the aisle have said the man who once sent a thrill up the leg of MSNBC host Chris Matthews has lost his magic after Democrats failed to propel then-Vice President Kamala Harris to victory in a desperately astroturfed 2024 campaign.
Obama reportedly favored seditious Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., over Harris to replace addled Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Nonetheless, he dutifully swooped in to try to save Harris’s campaign in the final weeks, catering his pitch specifically to black men.
ICYMI — An angry, bitter Barack Hussein Obama lectures Black men for not blindly supporting Kamala: "Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president … This shouldn't even be a question." pic.twitter.com/YxpCdKEvNg
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 14, 2024
However, his chiding of “the brothas” rang hollow, with many criticizing his condescending tone.
During an MSNBC-led panel discussion with black men reacting to Obama’s rhetoric, podcast host Chad Fain said he was “deeply offended” by the shameless race-baiting.
“I was deeply offended, and it felt like a moment where it’s like ‘You n-words better get in line and do what we say,’” Fain told the panel.
WATCH: A Philadelphia black man stunned MSNBC, saying he was deeply OFFENDED when Barack Obama tried to racially blackmail other black men into voting for Kamala Harris
"The general tone of it was disgusting. It was abhorrent. I didn't respect it. I like nothing about it."
The… pic.twitter.com/UM8diFV3tt
— George (@BehizyTweets) October 23, 2024
Since President Donald Trump’s return to power, which has exposed the scandalous role Obama took in the Russia-gate hoax while also seeking to unravel many of the policies he and Biden put in place, several left-wing media outlets have questioned whether Obama’s “star power” has fizzled.
“The effort to supplant Harris may well signal the last hurrah for Obama having real power in the Democratic Party,” campaign strategist Keith Naughton wrote in an April 17 op-ed for The Hill.
“Despite all the disrespect from the national media and the political establishment, Kamala Harris is the real leader of the Democrats today — at least, she is the absolute favorite to be the 2028 nominee, if she wants it,” Naughton added.
A May 27 report from NBC News rebuffed Obama for putting his own legacy above state-level party development as his massive fundraising machine gobbled up would-be donors, leaving no room to develop future talent.
“Team Obama’s bloom may be falling off the rose,”the piece said.
“…[T]he former president’s luster was showing signs of fading last fall, a phenomenon that threatens to persist as the next crop of young voters ages into adulthood,” it added. “When the 2028 presidential election arrives, it will be 20 years since Obama’s first victory. At that point, more voters will have come of age in the era of Donald Trump than in the era of Obama.”
Facing the prospect of a treason indictment that would override his presidential immunity, Obama reportedly has been transferring his assets into high-end properties in the United Kingdom and has made several recent trips across the pond, where he has been warmly received.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
