Barack Obama explained that he does not weigh in that often on Donald Trump’s presidency because he doesn’t want to morph from a political leader to just another commentator.
In a far-reaching interview with The New Yorker, the former president expanded on his reasonings for not being seen combating Trump on a daily basis even when he is often brought up by the current president in interviews and on social media.
“For me to function like Jon Stewart, even once a week, just going off, just ripping what was happening — which, by the way, I’m glad Jon’s doing it — then I’m not a political leader, I’m a commentator,” Obama said. “The media environment is so difficult that people don’t even know all the stuff I am doing, right? And, I think, when they do see me, then the sense is ‘Well, why isn’t he doing that every day’ instead of just during a midterm election, or during a referendum campaign around gerrymandering, or what have you?”
Plus, the 44th president even admitted he is already more involved in politics at this point than he wanted to be. While he is largely alright with this at the end of the day, Obama explained that it’s actually Michelle Obama who wishes he did not have to wade back into the political world so frequently.
“She wants to see her husband easing up and spending more time with her, enjoying what remains of our lives,” he said. “It does create a genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her. I’m more forgiving of it, in the sense that I understand why people feel that way, because people aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other presidents. They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-president was the main surrogate for the party for four election cycles after they left office.”
Elsewhere, Trump has spent much of his return to office lambasting Obama. One of the peaks happened back in February when he posted a racist AI-generated video of Obama and his wife as apes. While the former president said he doesn’t take Trump’s online jabs personally, it’s a different story when his family gets involved.
“I mean, I’m always offended when my wife and kids get dragged into things, because they didn’t choose this,” Obama said. “That’s a line that even people whose politics I deeply reject, I would expect them to care about. I would never talk about somebody’s family in that way.”
