With less than a month until the 2026 midterm elections, some Democrats are starting to smell a little panicked, and none more so than Abdul El-Sayed, who is now calling in the big gun: Barack Obama. Because nothing says “we’ve got this under control” like phoning a former president you’ve been chatting with since early August.
According to reporting at PJ Media, Obama’s involvement here is anything but spontaneous. As one writer put it, “Nothing he does is impromptu; everything about him is calculated.” Obama is fully aware of the Democratic Socialists of America platform that El-Sayed is so fond of, and apparently he’s decided now is the moment to, in the words used to describe his thinking, “fundamentally transform America once again.” Great. We can’t wait.
Here’s the problem with the Obama-as-savior strategy: we just watched this movie, and the ending was not great for Democrats. Obama’s 2026 midterm campaign strategy In the final weeks of the 2024 campaign, Obama barnstormed battleground states for Kamala Harris. He hit Pennsylvania, held a rally at a Nevada high school, rallied with Tim Walz at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and campaigned in Michigan including a Detroit event with Harris. He even joined Kamala, Bruce Springsteen, and Tyler Perry at a massive rally in Georgia. With the exception of Georgia, Obama had carried every single one of those states when he ran for president. His states. His voters. Gone.
And someone, somewhere, thought bringing Bruce Springsteen to Georgia was a winning campaign strategy. We’d love to know who signed off on that one.
The 2026 midterms are shaping up as a test of whether Democrats have learned anything from 2024, and so far the answer appears to be a firm no. Trotting out Obama for a candidate who embraces a Democratic Socialist platform, in a political environment that has already punished the left hard, is the kind of move you make when the options have run out. It’s a break-glass situation dressed up as a strategy.
And as if the Obama news weren’t enough, the suggestion is already floating around that Kamala Harris could also be deployed on the campaign trail. So the two biggest symbols of the 2024 wipeout may both be headed back out to help Democrats in 2026. That’s like a restaurant bringing back the exact meal that gave everyone food poisoning and calling it the new special.
El-Sayed and Obama have been in phone contact since early August, which means this partnership has been in the works for a while. Whether it helps El-Sayed or simply reminds voters of everything they rejected two years ago is the question Democrats are apparently willing to gamble on. November is right around the corner, and the left’s secret weapon is looking less secret and more recycled by the day. Drop your thoughts in the comments or sound off on social media.
