(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Barack Hussein Obama is headed to Michigan to campaign for Abdul El-Sayed, a man who, in newly unearthed social media posts and past writings, appeared to have nothing but harsh things to say about the former president.
El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, has faced questions about a growing list of controversies, including ties to accused anti-Semitic figures and his long record of left-wing policy views. But now he attempts to present himself as a more moderate version of himself to voters.
That apparent transformation extends to his views on Obama, as seen in a Wednesday report by CNN. A series of remarks spanning 2012 to 2020 reveal a dramatically different attitude toward the former president.
For instance, El-Sayed penned a 2012 essay for the Huffington Post in which he said Obama failed to deliver on “the hope and change” behind his 2008 campaign.
El-Sayed wrote that Obama “perpetuated war, violated our civil liberties, deported more people from our shores than any other president before him, and the list of his failures goes on.”
El-Sayed also targeted the Affordable Care Act, or so-called Obamacare, calling it a “watered-down reform that kowtows to the interests of health care lobbies.”
Speaking to Vox in 2017, El-Sayed said Obama’s economic policies “largely benefited corporations and has not really benefited people like them.” At the time, El-Sayed was running for the Democratic nomination for governor.
In the same Vox interview, El-Sayed blasted Obama for not being strong enough on a series of other issues, including health care, financial regulation and immigration.
CNN: Abdul El-Sayed spent years trashing Obama before asking him to campaign for him.
Abdul in 2012: "This leader has perpetrated war, violated our civil liberties, deported more people from our shores than any other president before him, and the list of his failures goes on." pic.twitter.com/O9rnZkOzgq
— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) October 8, 2026
He even credited Obama with helping to create conditions that prompted voters to back President Donald Trump in 2016.
“When Democrats buy into an ideology that says that we all ought to focus on the well-being of corporations rather than the well-being of real people, when we forget what suffering looks like, then we make mistakes,” El-Sayed said, as quoted by CNN.
And in 2020, he said that America was not “better off” after Obama left office.
“We are going to continue to make the same mistakes of the past eight years under Barack Obama,” he stated. “We are not, as a country, better off eight years after Obama was elected in 2008 than we were when he was elected. And I say this as somebody who loves him deeply.”
In the same speech, he added: “Look at where we are right now. Look at where we are right now. We are debating how we beat the most dangerous president in American history.”
JUST IN: Abdul El-Sayed CAUGHT criticizing Obama, now he will parade him across Michigan to save his campaign
It's hard to take these endorsements seriously when the messaging flips depending on what's politically convenient.
"We are not as a country better off eight years… pic.twitter.com/6pMPN5zH9m
— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) October 8, 2026
El-Sayed is set to face Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the general election for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 3. Obama is expected to campaign alongside El-Sayed on Oct. 24 in Detroit.
