Posted on 01/23/2024 8:26:57 AM PST by Red Badger
After leaving the White House in January 2017, Barack Obama and his family set out to do what all newly retired presidents have done—go back home, or find a new one. In Obama’s case, though, the new residence is in Washington, D.C. At first, the Obamas presented their choice as temporary—they wanted to let their younger daughter, Sasha, finish high school in Washington, they said—but their purchase of an 8,200-square-foot, $8 million mansion suggests a permanent stay. Obama’s postpresidency is thus shaping up to be virtually unique in American history: rather than departing Washington, he is planting his flag there, establishing, in effect, a shadow presidency.
Obama’s move breaks with long-standing precedent. Conscious of threats to the safe transfer of executive power in the young republic, America’s early presidents departed Washington on the expiration of their terms. After relinquishing his commission as general following victory over the British, George Washington was compared with Cincinnatus, the retired Roman general who assumed emergency powers, saved Rome, and then returned to his plow. Washington repeated his valiant act when he declined a third term as president—Garry Wills calls him a “virtuoso of resignations”—and set the standard for future executives by going home when his political work was done.
The American ideal of a president is essentially republican: a citizen steps forward to serve the government and returns to private life when his term is up. Washington’s diaries and correspondence of 1797 are consumed with matters of housekeeping, husbandry, and accounts. Mount Vernon had gone to seed, and Washington was forced to shore up his personal finances. Though he stayed abreast of national events and voiced his opinions to his associates, he stayed out of the affairs of government; keeping a safe physical distance from the capital reinforced that resolution.
Following Washington’s model, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe each returned to their farms, in varying degrees of insolvency. True, John Quincy Adams, finding retirement dull, soon returned to public service as a congressman, a role he embraced and thrived in, but his ambitions were not imperial. Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren went home, too, when their terms in the White House were finished.
In the modern era, only one other former president remained in Washington after his term of office ended. Stroke victim Woodrow Wilson took up residence on S Street—just a few blocks away from the Obamas’ new Kalorama home. But Wilson was an invalid—indeed, he spent the last 18 months of his presidency in seclusion, with his wife largely managing the affairs of state. Unlike Obama, he was in no position to assert his postpresidential authority or impose himself as a presence on the national stage.
Harry Truman retired to Missouri, broke, in 1953. Dwight Eisenhower retired to Gettysburg, eight years later. In 1969, Lyndon Johnson lit his first cigarette in 15 years, telling his daughters, “I’ve now raised you girls. I’ve now been president. Now it’s my time!” He went to his ranch, grew a ponytail, and died within three years. Richard Nixon skulked off to California and reengineered himself as a statesman, Gerald Ford made himself rich, and Jimmy Carter became a professional humanitarian. Ronald Reagan rode off into the sunset. George H. W. Bush splits his time between Houston and Maine; his son George W., a full-time Texan, paints. Bill Clinton arguably broke the mold through his efforts to install his wife as president, but even that ambitious enterprise was centered in New York, not Washington.
True, some ex-presidents have plotted returns to office. When Grover Cleveland left the White House in 1889, his wife, Frances, told a staff member to keep everything in place because she and her husband would be returning in four years. They did. But Cleveland was an outlier. (He’s also the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.)
Traditionally, former presidents gave their successors a lengthy grace period, during which they refrained from critiquing them: George W. Bush waited until 2015 before criticizing Obama’s foreign policy. By contrast, Obama, only two weeks after Donald Trump’s November victory, announced that he would take on the new president “if necessary.” Necessity arose quickly: Obama held a conference call that month with staff members of his “social welfare” nonprofit Organizing for Action, the successor organization to his Obama for America campaign. The ex-president told the depressed troops to “get over it” and “move forward.” Ten days after leaving office, Obama said that he was “heartened” by anti-Trump protests. Now, recent news reports indicate that Obama is planning a return to the national stage as soon as this Fall, and that he wants to take an "active role" in running the Democratic Party.
Obama’s new home in Washington has been described as the “nerve center” of the anti-Trump opposition. Former attorney general Eric Holder has said that Obama is “ready to roll” and has aligned himself with the “resistance.” Former high-level Obama campaign staffers now work with a variety of groups organizing direct action against Trump’s initiatives. “Resistance School,” for example, features lectures by former campaign executive Sara El-Amine, author of the Obama Organizing Handbook. Former White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina runs Organizing for Action.
Obama and his affiliated organizations are not addressing broadly humanistic policy goals, in the model of the Carter Center or even the Clinton Global Initiative. Rather, Obama is the spearhead of a movement seeking to obstruct the administration of his successor. By establishing himself so visibly within the nation’s capital, Obama is effectively turning the postpresidency—up to now, a venerable, if vague, institution—into something more ominous.
Seth Barron is associate editor of City Journal and project director of the NYC Initiative at the Manhattan Institute.
Everyone knows Barack “Hussein” Obama is really running things. Biden is just the signature.
Is this supposed to be NEWS?
The only reason why everything is such a disaster
No, just a Blast from the Past..................
Obama is an empty suit. He is just another puppet, albeit useful. Someone else is running the show.
Soros?
How many mansions does Obozo have?
DC
Martha’s Vineyard
Hawaii?
I hear millennials are looking for places to live:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4212223/posts
Agreed—he is the Halfrican mask for Deep State operators.
If anyone has scoffed at this idea, consider this:
“The Biden administration’s status as Obama presidential term three is confirmed by Biden’s appointment of enormous number of Obamaites:”
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Cabinet Members and Key Advisors
National Security Adviser
Jake Sullivan: Obama’s Deputy Assistant and Director of Policy.
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Secretary of State
Antony Blinken: Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor (2013-2015) and Deputy Secretary of State (2015-2017).
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Secretary of Homeland Security
Alejandro Mayorkas: Obama Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. He also managed staffing the DoJ Criminal Division
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Director of National Intelligence
Avril Haines: Was Obama’s Deputy Director of the CIA then Deputy National Security Advisor. Biden promoted her to DNI in 2021.
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Ambassador to the United Nations
Linda Thomas-Greenfield: Obama’s Director General of the Foreign Service and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
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Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Samantha Power: Obama’s transition team for the State Department and his UN Ambassador (2013-2017)
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Deputy Secretary of State
Wendy Sherman: Obama’s Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs. Retired July 2023 and replaced by Victoria Nuland (acting)
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ECONOMIC POLICY and FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT
Director, National Economic Council
Brian Deese: Obama’s senior White House advisor, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, and deputy director of the National Economic Council. Subsequently. Deese was Global Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock before joining the Biden administration.
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Secretary of the Treasury
Janet Yellen: Obama’s Chairman of the Federal Reserve and Biden’s appointment as Secretary of the Treasury.
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Chair, Council of Economic Advisers
Cecilia Rouse: Obama member of the Council of Economic Advisors promoted to the chair by Biden in 2021.
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Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo: A Nigerian, Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council, then head of the Obama Foundation.
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Member, Council of Economic Advisers
Jared Bernstein: VP Biden economic advisor during Obama years, then Biden appointed him Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.
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Chair, Securities and Exchange Commission
Gary Gensler: Obama Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, then Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021
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Attorney General
Merrick Garland: Obama nominee for Justice of the Supreme Court after death of Antonin Scalia. Senate refused to vote on his nomination. Biden then made Garland U.S. Attorney General in 2021.
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Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack: Obama Secretary of Agriculture, appointed by Biden in 2021.
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Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Denis McDonough: Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor, then Chief of Staff. Biden appointed him in 2021.
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Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Eric Lander: Obama’s advisor on science and tech. Elevated to Cabinet in 2021. He resigned in 2022 for bullying, replaced by Alondra Nelson.
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Deputy Attorney General
Lisa Monaco: Obama Homeland Security Advisor, appointed by Biden to Deputy Attorney General in 2021.
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Associate Attorney General
Vanita Gupta: Obama Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. promoted by Biden to Associate Attorney General in 2021.
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Surgeon General
Dr. Vivek Murthy: Obama’s (and Trump’s) Surgeon General, reappointed by Biden in 2021.
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Chairperson, Council on Environmental Quality
Brenda Mallory: Obama General Counsel of the EPA, then promoted by Biden to Chair of Council on Environmental Quality.
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WHITE HOUSE AIDES
Chief of Staff
Ron Klain: Obama Ebola Response Coordinator. Replaced by Jeff Zients, Obama Director of OMB, and Director of the National Economic Council.
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Director, Domestic Policy Council
Susan Rice: Obama’s National Security Advisor and UN Ambassador
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Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
John Kerry: Obama’s Secretary of State.
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National Climate Adviser
Gina McCarthy: Obama Administrator of the EPA.
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Director, Office of Legislative Affairs
Louisa Terrell: Was Obama’s Legislative Aide
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Counsel to the President
Dana Remus: Obama Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel for Ethics, then general counsel for the Obama Foundation and Michelle Obama.
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Comptroller General of the U.S.
Gene Dodero (appointed by Obama and still in office)
Short answer: Obama. Read it here:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/01/how_obama_pulls_bidens_strings.html
I agree the Obama administration is still running things but it’s not Barrack - he was always a figurehead / puppet himself.
Barrack Obama is NOT some kind of mastermind - get real. He checked certain boxes and that’s it. As ex POTUS he is still useful but he’s not “running things” and he never was.
Admittedly, he doesn’t have dementia like the current puppet - but he’s a puppet.
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Its worst. Biden is the white face of Obamanomics, the massive growth of government and open borders for nonwhite people.
Now that it has been demonstrated that a current president may target a former president, Trump47 should begin that project on Day 1.
The only federal departments which actually have to be there are State and Defense.
Congress can meet virtually, from their own district in a giant zoom type meeting broadcast for tourists in the congressional hearing rooms and floors.
The supreme court can meet much the same way. Even the president doesn't have to live in Washington, DC.
Turn the whole place with the two exceptions noted into a beautiful national park. Turn the massive government offices into low cost hotel rooms for the tourists and/or dorm rooms for the national park workers.
“beautiful national park”
Yeah—imagine Yellowstone with feral criminals instead of bears and bison.
;-)
Valerie Jarrett.
WEF/$oro$...very plain to see from the backgrounds on the list of obamanites in the Brandon administration
In the entire history of our country, we have had no worse and anti-American President than Obama. IMHO, he is fit for hanging.
1) If someone says: “Joe Biden is doing a bad thing ...”
People jump up and down and say “Biden isn’t doing anything! He’s a vegetable! A puppet! Other people pull the strings!”
2) If someone says: “I know Biden is a puppet. It’s Obama who is pulling the strings ...”
People jump up and down and say “Obama is an idiot! He’s a puppet too! Other people pull the strings!” It’s Valerie Jarrett who does all the work!”
3) I say: “Biden will drop out before Nov 2024, and Michell Obama will step in at the Convention as a figurehead president for the next 4 years. She’ll go on vacation the whole time and let others do the work.”
People jump up and down and say: “She’s lazy! She doesn’t want to do the work! She would never agree to the job!”
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