During a zoom fundraiser, Obama expressed outrage at Trump's use of "kung flu".
"I don't want a country in which the president of the U.S. is actively trying to promote anti-Asian sentiment and thinks it's funny … That still shocks and pisses me off." https://t.co/HPaUF5GQLi
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 28, 2020
Allowing for the inevitable NYTimes animus towards Democrats, especially successful Democrats:
… As America’s first black president, now its first black ex-president, Mr. Obama sees the current social and racial awakening as an opportunity to elevate a 2020 election dictated by Mr. Trump’s mud-wrestling style into something more meaningful — to channel a new, youthful movement toward a political aim, as he did in 2008.
He is doing so very carefully, characteristically intent on keeping his cool, his reputation, his political capital and his dreams of a cosseted retirement intact.
“I don’t think he is hesitant. I think he is strategic,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a top adviser for over a decade. “He has always been strategic about using his voice; it’s his most valuable commodity.”…
“Obama has now been out of office for three and a half years, and he is still facing this kind of scrutiny — no one is pressuring white ex-presidents like George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter the same way,” said Monique Judge, news editor of the online magazine The Root and author of a 2018 article arguing that Mr. Obama no longer owed the country a thing.
Mr. Obama’s head appears to be somewhere in the middle. He is not planning to scrap his summer Vineyard vacation and is still anguishing over the publication date of his long-awaited memoir. But last week he stepped up his nominally indirect criticism of Mr. Trump’s administration — decrying a “shambolic, disorganized, meanspirited approach to governance” during an online Biden fund-raiser. And he made a pledge of sorts, telling Mr. Biden’s supporters: “Whatever you’ve done so far is not enough. And I hold myself and Michelle and our kids to that same standard.”…
On June 4, an hour or so before Mr. Floyd’s memorial service in Minneapolis, the former president called his brother, Philonise Floyd — a reprise of the calls he made to grieving families over his eight years in office.
“I want you to have hope. I want you to know you are not alone. I want you to know that Michelle and I will do anything you want me to do,” Mr. Obama said during the emotional 25-minute conversation, according to the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was on the call. Two other people with knowledge of the call confirmed its contents.
“That was the first time, I think, that the Floyd family really experienced solace since he died,” Mr. Sharpton said in an interview.
“Trump is starting to get deeper into underdog territory. There are really three things that make his path harder than it was four years ago,” @NateSilver538 says on latest national polls. https://t.co/67UyfTssH3 pic.twitter.com/I4MZHK2uHv
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 28, 2020
Trump hasn't held a lead in a single live interview national poll this entire year. He's the first prez incumbent for who that is true in any election in the polling era. Other incumbents who were trailing at this point (Truman, Ford, Carter) led in polls earlier in the year.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) June 27, 2020
Not making any predictions, but people are underrating the chances of a massive 1932 style landslide. https://t.co/ygX7KCkCJZ
— Jonathan Bernstein (@jbview) June 28, 2020
Election Year Open Thread: Readership CapturePost + Comments (311)