Democrats aren’t yet singing “Michelle, ma belle,” but they increasingly may be falling in love with the idea of a Michelle as presidential nominee. Michelle Obama, that is.
Documentarian Michael Moore — whose claim to political-prognostication fame is having predicted Trump’s 2016 victory — said Tuesday that Obama should seek the nomination, insisting she’s the only Democrat who can trump Trump. He’s not alone in imagining another Obama presidency, either.
Canada Free Press editor in chief Judi McLeod, pointing out late last month that Obama just won the “Most Admired Woman in the World” title, writes that she is “Already Out There Hustling Down The Hustings.” This echoes radio giant Rush Limbaugh, who in February opined, “I think Michelle may be the candidate.”
Obama could steal the nomination from the current confused fray of Star Wars bar-scene Democrat candidates. Again, she’s immensely popular among leftists; there’s also nostalgia for her husband’s presidency, a factor currently benefiting former vice president Joe Biden. But the primaries are not Obama’s only route to the nomination.
If no candidate dominates the primaries, more likely than usual given the large number of 2020 contenders, the Democratic National Convention next July could be brokered. The delegates would have to choose someone, however, and it could be someone completely new — such as Obama.
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Moreover, no law anywhere “says these delegates can’t do exactly what they want to do if a majority of them decide,” wrote Brookings in 2016. Owing to Supreme Court rulings, “in most conflicts between state law and party rules the party rules win.”
In other words, the Democrat machine could conceivably ignore the primary results and simply draft Obama.
While this isn’t as likely as an Obama primary effort or appearance as brokered-convention savior, Michelle as nominee would enjoy some distinct advantages — especially if she could avoid bruising primary battles.
As Michael Moore pointed out, alluding to how Obama’s black-woman status would be a criticism shield, President Trump “wouldn’t be able to bully her” or “to nickname her” — “and she is beloved.” Furthermore, the fawning press coverage Democrat candidates commonly enjoy would be especially intense in her case. Yet there’s another factor.
The Odd Squad (Ocasio-Cortez and Co.)-led Democrat presidential contenders have been racing to the left of one another; hence the embrace of kooky ideas such as decriminalizing illegal migration, reparations for antebellum slavery, and free healthcare for illegal aliens. Democrat insiders such as ex-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel warn how this radicalism may mean general-election disaster. Obama as nominee could eliminate this problem.
First, her popularity might enable her to win the primaries without overtly embracing these poisonous positions. But that this is hardly a given illustrates the value of an Obama convention draft:
She could enter the general election without a history of Democrat-primary-inspired hard-left extremism. No flip-flops to explain away radical, unpopular stances taken just months earlier would be necessary. She could plausibly masquerade as a moderate voice — that’s exactly how she’d appear, too, after the Odd Squad-distorted crew.
Doubt this? Consider that even Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson reflected this illusion, opining just this week that Barack Obama never would’ve taken today’s Left’s radical positions. In reality, though, it’s highly probable that, were he seeking the 2020 Democrat nomination, he’d match his opponents’ extremism.
Remember here his bathroom mandate, stating that schoolchildren masquerading as the opposite sex should be allowed to use that sex’s bathrooms and locker rooms. Is this sex-as-social-construct policy any less radical than current Democrat lunacy?
Note also that Barack was odd before odd was in. Many know he flip-flopped on marriage in 2012, claiming that a change of heart had suddenly inspired him to embrace the “same-sex variety.” Yet few know that Barack already indicated support for faux marriage when running for the Illinois State Senate in 1996, back when this position was almost unheard of. This was later walked back, but only because he apparently realized it would scuttle his political career by alienating the black, 1990s-era Chicago-area community.
Michelle shares her husband’s radicalism and would, as president in this Odd Squad time, likely channel Ocasio-Cortez.
That said, the chances of her running or being drafted are still slim. Nonetheless, Obama as nominee could give the Left exactly what it craves: A candidate who can effectively masquerade as moderate while campaigning but then become, in office, the most radical president in United States history.
