NYT Urges Obama to Stay Quiet So Trump Can Fail on His Own
"The opposition to Trump is doing pretty well."
8.31.2017
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New York Times op-ed columnist David Leonhardt is quite happy that Barack Obama is remaining largely silent on politics right now. That’s because “the opposition to Trump is doing pretty well,” he says, and Obama saying too much could jeopardize that progress.
Leonhardt pointed to a recent NYT article written by Caroline Randall Williams in which she urged the former president to speak out more against Trump: “We need your voice. There is not a saner, more trustworthy opinion that many of us would rather hear.”
However, Leonhardt isn’t quite on board with that. He found an article in The Daily Beast which convinced him that Obama needs to keep his mouth shut:
Jamil Smith disagreed. Hearing from Obama more often may well offer relief to progressives. But Smith argues — persuasively, to my mind — that a more talkative Obama would hurt the causes that matter to Obama and his allies.A higher-profile Obama would help drive Republicans and some independents back into Trump’s corner, given that many of them don’t like the former president. Even as president, Obama came to understand this dynamic and sometimes, rather than inserting himself into an issue and polarizing it, he held back.
With glee, Leonhardt added:
Remember: The opposition to Trump is doing pretty well. He is struggling, with a record-low approval rating and frequent criticism from his own party (and even his own appointees).
In the Beast article, Smith argued that Obama “largely stayed out of the way as an insurgent movement took hold amongst voters of every stripe.”
“I never in my life thought I’d see white Republican voters in Arkansas passionately defend Obamacare to their senator, but it happened,” Smith continued.
To that end, Leonhardt encouraged any voices within the Democratic Party to speak up, just not Obama.
“The party needs new voices,” Leonhardt said, “including some who may one day run for the office Obama once occupied.”
Not that the NYT is choosing sides or anything.
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