Speaking from his year-end vacation in Honolulu, 54-year-old President Barack Obama felt inclined to comment about the 2016 presidential race, ripping 69-year-old real estate tycoon and former reality TV star and GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Obama accused Trump of exploiting the fears of blue-collar or low-wage workers who haven’t benefited as much from the recovery. Calling these groups under “economic stresses,” Obama took a swipe at the GOP front-runner, whose polls show no signs of letting up. Obama’s responding to renewed analysis at the Democratic National Committee, trying to pick-and-choose against whom they’d like to run against in a general election. Trump threw the Republican National Committee for a loop, watching mainstream candidates fall the by the wayside. When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dropped out Sept. 21, it spelled trouble for the RNC.
Party officials still haven’t conceded that Trump will eventually represent the GOP in the general election. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has been slow to warm up to the idea that one of his handpicked conservatives won’t beat Trump in the GOP primaries. Taking a shot from Barack today should ring a loud bell at the RNC that Trump has the best chance, by far, of beating Democratic front-runner 68-year-old former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama’s comment about blue-collar men proves he’s elitist, not seeing more educated professionals as going for Trump. What the RNC and DNC haven’t yet accepted in the 2016 election cycle is that voters are up to their eyeballs with partisan gridlock. Obama won’t admit that dissatisfaction with the presidency gave rise to insurgent candidates like Trump who promise less partisanship at the White House.
Hearing Obama target Trump should rock the Republican establishment that DNC officials believe that Hillary would have a tough time beating the real estate mogul. Despite all of Hillary’s experience in government service, it wasn’t that long ago at CNN’s Democratic debate Oct. 13 that she admitted that Republicans were her “enemies.” Unlike other GOP candidates, Trump promises to reach across party lines to set a new tone in Washington. Obama once promised while running in 2008 a post-partisan presidency, where things would be done for the good of the country. Shortly after taking office, Barck pursued anything but. Pushing for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev) national health care agenda, Obama railroaded the Republican Party signing his Affordable Care Act into Law March 23, 2010.
Forcing Obamacare on the GOP and American public set exactly the wrong tone early on in Barack’s presidency. If there weren’t so much discontent with his presidency, he wouldn’t have to lecture Trump about exploiting unskilled workers. With a 43% approval rating, Obama takes no responsibility for the state of frustration in American voters on both sides of the aisle. Barack thinks unskilled workers can’t make it any longer on one paycheck, generating the frustration playing into Trump’s hands. “I think somebody like Mr. Trump in taking advantage of that. That’s what he’s exploiting during the course of his campaign,” said Barack, ignoring his role played adding to Washington’s intolerable partisan divide. Blaming everything on Trump completely misses the president’s role in promoting the toxic political atmosphere crying out in 2016 for a change.
Recent terror attacks Nov. 13 in Paris, France, killing 140, injuring hundreds more, followed by the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terror attack killing 14, injuring 21, have left the public skeptical of Obama’s counter-terrorism strategy. “I think that there’s a legitimate criticism of what I’ve been doing an out administration has been doing in the sense that we haven’t, you know, on a regular basis I think directed all the work that we’ve been doing for more than a year now to defeat ISIL,” said Obama, using the term most often referred to as ISIS. Obama’s weakness as commander-in-chief and his failure to fulfill his promise to get beyond partisan politics, has left Hillary an uphill battle selling herself in 2016. Her public statements about seeing Republicans as her enemy—anticipating more Washington gridlock—make the strongest case against putting another Democratic in the White House.
Hazarding opinions about the presidential race, especially criticizing Trump, Obama hurts Hillary heading into 2016. Insisting that blue-collar voters have no judgment, Barack treads on dangerous territory, suggesting less educated workers lack the judgment to make appropriate presidential decisions. Barack has no one to thank but himself for Trump’s meteoric rise in the polls, as voters conclude in 2016 that it’s time to try something new. Whether the DNC admits it or not, Hillary represents the past of bitter partisanship, something voters seek to avoid in 2016. Blaming Trump’s rise on blue-collar voters, Obama does little to help Hillary, other than highlighting voters frustration with his presidency. Unable to act effectively against ISIS as commander-in-chief, Obama gave Democrats and independents little to believe that things would be that different with Hillary.
