Former President Barack Obama sounded like a typical hypocritical Democrat this week when he came out in favor of Virginia’s congressional redistricting plan to gain four seats for his party after criticizing an identical Republican-led effort in Texas.
“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. But right now, they’re under attack,” Obama wrote on X Thursday.
He’s also come out in favor of California’s redistricting plan to eliminate virtually all Republican-held seats in the state’s congressional delegation despite Trump getting nearly 39 percent of the vote there in 2024.
Previously, Obama criticized Texas for doing the same thing. “We can’t lose focus on what matters – right now, Republicans in Texas are trying to gerrymander district lines to unfairly win five seats in next year’s midterm elections. This is a power grab that undermines our democracy,” Obama declared in social media posts.
In backing Virginia’s effort, Obama noted online: “Several Republican-controlled states have redrawn their congressional maps to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterm elections. Now Virginia has a chance to help level the playing field. If you live in the Commonwealth, early voting begins March 6, and Election Day is on April 21. Vote YES.”
Texas’ effort was a “power grab that undermines our democracy,” but the Virginia and California Democrat-led efforts are “leveling the playing field,” according to the 44th president.
“Dems only call it ‘gerrymandering’ when it’s in a Republican state,” GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah remarked when retweeting Obama’s post on X. “When it happens in Illinois, they call it ‘democracy.’”
“Three years ago, I helped @EricHolder launch @AllOnTheLine, a people-powered campaign to fight gerrymandering and advocate for fair redistricting. All On The Line is driven by the core belief that voters should choose their representatives—not the other way around,” Obama declared in a 2022 post on X.
In a speech to wrap up his presidency in 2016, Obama opined that the nation needed to “end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around.”
Obama was recently criticized over his highly politicized and racially divisive remarks at the funeral of the late civil rights icon Jesse Jackson – by the reverend’s son, Jesse Jackson Jr.
“Do not bring your politics, out of respect to Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the life that he lived, to these ongoing services. Come respectful, and come to say thank you. But these ongoing services are welcome to ALL – Democrat, Republican, liberal, and conservative. Right-wing, left-wing. Because his life is broad enough to cover the full spectrum of what it means to be an American,” Jackson Jr., a former Democratic congressman from Illinois, chastised.
Others criticized Obama’s divisiveness as well.
Meanwhile, a resurfaced video clip of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defending Obama’s 2011 military strikes in Libya without congressional authorization is drawing renewed attention as Democrats criticize Trump’s decision to launch strikes against Iran.
In the clip, recorded during a 2011 press event, a reporter asked Pelosi whether Obama needed congressional approval to conduct the military operation in Libya.
“You’re saying that the president did not need authorization initially and still does not need any authorization from Congress on Libya?” the reporter asked.
“Yes,” Pelosi replied.
The remark contrasts sharply with Pelosi’s response to Trump’s weekend strikes against Iran, which she condemned as unconstitutional without prior approval from Congress.
“President Trump’s decision to initiate military hostilities into Iran starts another unnecessary war which endangers our servicemembers and destabilizes an already fragile region,” Pelosi wrote in a post on X.
“The Constitution is clear: decisions that lead our nation into war must be authorized by Congress,” she added, referencing the 1973 War Powers Act.
Pelosi’s office has argued that the two situations are fundamentally different, which, of course, is false.