Former President Barack Obama long ago surpassed the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton as America’s most influential race hustler. The country got a reminder when Obama spoke at Jackson’s funeral even though Jackson’s son urged the speakers “not to bring their politics” to the service.
Obama said: “Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible. Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other, and to turn on each other. And that some Americans count more than others.” Same old Obama.
In his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech, he famously declared, “There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.” It was the line that launched him and made millions across party lines believe he could bridge divides.
Obama won the presidency with just over 52% of the popular vote, but he entered the Oval Office in January 2009 with a nearly 70% approval rating. Polls in late 2008 and early 2009 showed both Black and white Americans believed race relations would improve under his leadership. By the time he left office in 2017, polls showed majorities or pluralities of both Blacks and whites thought race relations had gotten worse.
In Obama’s eight years as president, he repeatedly whipped out the race card, injecting racial division into matters large and small while maintaining the image of a racial unifier who would heal America’s deepest wounds.
In 2009, at the beginning of his presidency, he declared that the Cambridge police “acted stupidly” in arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Obama turned a cop-just-doing-his-job encounter with the belligerent Gates into a national “teachable moment” about alleged racial profiling by cops against blacks.
In 2012, about a young black man shot and killed by a self-described neighborhood Florida watchman, Obama said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” A jury found the man who shot Trayvon Martin not guilty, and jurors who spoke publicly said race had nothing to do with the encounter.
In a 2014 speech before the United Nations, Obama invoked the case of Ferguson, Missouri, to enlighten the world about America’s supposed deep-seated problems with race relations. Later, the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative about Michael Brown’s death turned out to be a complete lie, and the officer was exonerated.
Obama embraced Black Lives Matter’s police-are-out-to-get-blacks rhetoric, despite evidence that, if anything, cops are more hesitant to pull the trigger on a black suspect than a white one.
In 2015, he proclaimed racism is in America’s “DNA.” Although the media for the most part fawned over Obama, first lady Michelle Obama insisted her husband suffered from unfair media coverage because of racism.
Obama invited fellow race hustler Sharpton to the White House over 70 times, more than any other “civil rights” figure. And, for good measure, Obama even argued that “a theoretical case” could be made for slavery reparations to be paid by non-slave owners and to non-slaves.
From the beginning of his presidency until its end, Obama stoked resentment, divided Americans by skin color and kept the race grievance industry alive and well oiled. The man Americans hired to unite us became the victicrat-in-chief, a title his Jackson eulogy shows he retains.
Trump-hating media still gives Obama a pass no Republican could ever dream of receiving. Imagine a Republican president doing even half of what Obama did: routinely injecting race into controversies, cozying up to a white Sharpton-like figure and rapping his arms around a toxic “movement” called White Lives Matter. The outrage would be endless, the headlines relentless — and rightfully so.
Obama’s real legacy on race? Blacks are eternal victims — distressed, oppressed and suppressed by “The Man” — and trapped in a system rigged against them from birth to death. His own extraordinary rise, of course, contradicts this counterproductive message. Yet he persists in selling it to willing buyers.
Obama is still relatively young. So, he has decades ahead to remain a loud voice in the public square — and he possesses a warehouse full of race cards ready to be played. What a waste.
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit here. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage.
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Obama like Al Sharpton will gnaw on that old bone as long as there is a shred of gristle on it. Every hyena must be envious, to have a carcass that lasts for decades.
He and Michelle. 2 bitter ungrateful ‘Americans’.
Worst President ever. Biden was really bad but he was Obamas puppet
Sadly, I once believed he would use his unique position to bring us all together,as he promised he would. He did the exact opposite…becoming a racist and undermining the United States. A sad and bitter man who continues to try to divide our people and bad mouth our country !
He tried to destroy this country! He is the biggest hater there is!
If this was written by anyone other than Larry Elder the leftists would have a field day. Obama was the hope and change that Americans thought would happen, instead I found myself hoping his change could be undone. Biden was his third term behind the curtain as he’s on record saying. Funny how time reveals all after the damage has been done.
Never misses an opportunity to promote hate and discontent to divide America. He should be in prison, don’t know why he isn’t.
Obama is the worst president, having done more harm to our country than we would think possible. He brought in unvetted Muslims from 3rd world countries and set them up in blue cities to be voting blocs to influence our national policies. They responded and put Omar and Tlaib in Congress and support the Sqaud, as stupid and ignorant as AOC and her pals are. Barrack & Michelle are entitled racists who got very wealthy playing their race card. They don’t give a damn about the country or what happens to it. (The Obama Presidential library in its current incarnation stands as a symbol of the Obamas.) I am quite certain that Obama (and his team including Rice and Jarrett) was the puppet master behind Biden’s catastrophic decisions and policies. He told us he’d love to do just that, sitting in his basement in his sweats working behind the scenes (the Wizard of OZ). And yet there are millions who still respond to his smarmy, sleazy “charm.” He is in great part what brought the Democrat Party to its current nasty, destructive current place, one in which hate and angry, dangerous views are supreme; very stupid dangerous people hold the thinking Dems hostage.
Obama is the real life Manchurian Candidate .
Just sad, using a funeral to do your politicking, should have mentioned Harris and Biden’s speeches. There are no words to describe this behavior.
I would like to recover some of the monies paid to Iran, so that he Obama, would not have to face the hard decisions our great President Trump, has faced and acted upon. I am thankful President Trump didn’t attend his friend’s funeral.
Oh-Urkel the “Did I do that?” president is overdue for his retirement! He needs to pick up golfing as one more thing he can fail at long as he finally puts a sock in it. Someone who created as many messes as he did, committed crimes against the opposition party and saddled the country with his good for nothing intellectual vacuum of a vice president to run against the man who superseded him should not be running his mouth but be as reclusive as a hermit monk in hopes that no one will remember that he needs to be charged with high crimes and misdemeanors, first and foremost insurrection, and treason.
If you tell a Democrat that Obama was not a good president, they go ballistic on you.
Pure evil, everything about this guy is fraudulent. He is a COMMUNIST, a homosexual, low IQ, spineless, and he married guy.
Fuck you Obama, you are aworldclass scumbag!
Most divisive POS EVER!
I just can’t understand a person that is half white (mother) and half black(father) would be so racist! You would think the blend would influence that there is one comman bond in all of us. We are each human with a soul that makes us ONE RACE!
When will the division of hate be put down and we are the same internally.
I also wonder why an ex-President feels he needs to continually campaign? He had his turn and now please move on with a better hobby!
I’ll always remember the Navy Corpsemen.
Thank you Mr. Elder. It’s about time more people spoke out about Obama’s terrible record on racism in America. I never liked Obama, Even when he made that speech at the Democrat convention and was praised, I thought he wasn’t worth all the ballyhoo. Then when he became president, he proved me right. He has never been worthy of the office. He was a divider. I always had the impression he did not like this country and was delighted to have the power to “fundamentally change” my beloved country.
And since leaving office he has yet to prove my instincts about him were wrong.
What a great article. Jesse Jackson wouldn’t have approved of that speech at his funeral. We were remembering a great man. Who worked tirelessly to destroy racism in this country. But like always Obama saw a chance to divide the country some more. Jesse’s son was right politics and racism had no place at his father’s funeral. Even Biden mumbled and bumbled hatred toward President Trump and his supporters. They should have kept him seated. The man has so little brain cells left. The democrats won’t shut up till a few crackpots have been arrested for their lies and destruction of this country by fostering racism at every turn.
The dems use the courts and bribed judges to run this country. Look at the Powell case and the cost overrun. A judge took the case from the grand jury to keep Powell out of jail. Nobody is above the law the dems scream only not when it involves them.
Obama said: “Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible. Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other, and to turn on each other. And that some Americans count more than others.”
Berry is the great divider. He did more to break down race relations than any president in my 84 years. He is a glib liar and a race baiter.
I was so dismayed to see race relations deteriorating after Obama’s election. It didn’t take me long to figure out it was his own poisonous rhetoric that was the cause. It made me very sad to admit it. We found out rather quickly what his idea of “hope and change” entailed.
Those of us in Illinois law enforcement knew what a phony, police hating racist that he was because he did everything he could to turn the public against us. Total scumbag. A black man with any integrity would have made use of the opportunity to improve race relations in our nation, but not this guy. He took the opportunity to tear down the nation while he got wealthy. Worse than shameful!!!!!
Obama and his wife are two of the biggest racists in politics.
I never voted for that racist scumbag for President! I knew his Father, Uncle and Mother were racists because I did my homework before I voted! Too many people were fooled by his mixed race and smooth rhetoric and thought he’d improve Race relations. We’re they ever wrong!
I lived in Illinois when Obama first made his big Political Move on Illinois. But that was only temporary because he already had his sights set on a much bigger stage . He basically shafted the voters in Illinois as he did not even stick around for one full term in the Illinois Legislature. He was a born Liar then and he remains a born Liar today. Too bad the Jackson family had to suffer through one of his endless speeches at a Funeral no less.
Wasn’t Sir Obama the one who, at his first inauguration party, put on a king-like cape and walked down an aisle with people on each side of the aisle worshipping him? Like. A. King. King Obama – is that what No Kings protesters are trying to tell us? Because if there EVER was a president who would be king? It was absolutely King Obama! Worst president ever!!!!!!!!
Satan’s army has prefectly dishonest angels.
In a nutshell, Obama is and always has been a Liar! If his lips are moving, he is lying! He the most despicable person, to ever be President!
Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Jackson was nothing but an opportunist and the king of race hustling. He played the race card so well, always threatening to “expose” corporations if they didn’t donate to him. The Democrats saw this and ran with it by just simply calling everyone a rascist. They overused that play so much that it lost its sting, so they switched to fascists and now Christian Nationalists. Can’t really blame Obama or the others for taking the time to speak about themselves. When they asked their speech writers to give them something good to say about Jackson, they all came up empty.
I sure wish this DIVIDER-IN-CHEIF would just vanish…or shut his lying stinking pie hole.
Obama once said the he “would fundamentally change America.” which he did. What a disaster.
It is AWFUL how some people can fool others as to who they really are and play a “Race” Card!!! Even to become President of the United States! In European Countries: Take Poland for example and even in America: YOU ARE WHAT YOUR FATHER IS: So, Therefore Obama is a MUSLIM because his Dad is a Muslim and his Brother is a Muslim and because his skin is a little warmer tone (although his mother’s Black) HE IS A MUSLIM with “Muslim Tones!” So, Time he came Right! AND, JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE SAYS THEY GO TO CHURCH: IT DOES NOT MAKE THEM A CHRISTIAN! AS THEY SAY: FOOL US ONCE: SHAME ON US! IF YOU THINK YOU CAN FOOL US TWICE: AS THE KID’S SAY: NO WAY AND GET TO STEPPIN O’BAMA!!! America now has so many OUTSIDERS that should fall in line and RESPECT THE CURRENT LAND YOU CHOSE TO ARRIVE IN: Both Races: Black’s and White’s FOUGHT TOGETHER IN THE CIVIL WAR AND WON AND WE WON OUR INDEPENDENCE AND WANT TO CELEBRATE OUR 250TH ANNIVERSARY TOGETHER WITH BOTH RACES AND: All the rest of you IMPORTS CAN FOLLOW US AND THE DOOR TO LEAVE IS ALWAYS OPEN AS WE CELEBRATE AND HONOR GOD AND COUNTRY AND LEAVE RACISM AS IT HAS NO WELCOME IN AMERICA! MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS AMERICA AND HIS PEOPLE!
Obama’s first act was to dismiss charges against Black Panthers who had intimidated voters by wielding clubs at polling stations! They had been found guilty but BO’s AG voided the charges! Then, even after admitting he didn’t know the FACTS, he said police had acted “stupidly” when they simply asked “Skip” Gates why he was climbing in a window! The neighbor, dispatcher, and cops had NOT mentioned Skip’s race but Skip immediately charged THEM with racism! Jesse’s funeral mirrored the “Wellstone Memorial” where the DIMM hyenas actually BOOED Republicans who came to honor Wellstone!
What part of obama is white ??? His as-hole biden. one and the same
Luv Mr Larry Elder. It’s so sad n shameful that the shallowness of a 1960 LBJ DEMONcRatic skin melanin CON still being peddled played n swallowed in 2026. Hey bHUSSEINo, IF IT WAS SO, then why 60+ years later hav the DemWits made “black lives not matter” w ALL their policies – #1 in abortions of black children, only 28% mom n dad households, n 27-35 yr old black skin males commit 54% of ALL VIOLENT CRIMES ????????. Shameful. So sthu “racist” slandering multi millionaire hypocrit!!!!!!! Ty Mr Elder.
If memory serves, polls prior to Obama’s presidency showed that about 80% Of the country thought race relations were good. After he finally left office, the same polls showed that number had dropped to somewhere in the 40s.
..and this Kenyan born imposter is now worth how many millions? Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth—
My Wife & I couldn’t agree with your comment more! We think that not only will he & his cohort Biden, but these two will have quite a lot to answer for when time & Life passes them by & they have to answer to the Almighty!
So SAD, instead of the HOPE he promised… all we got was HYPE!
Obammie. Just a large piece of S#it that should have been flushed a long time ago.
Ovomit – The DIVIDER-N-CHIEF. The 45th-LOSER. The America-despising, white-hating, self-absorbed, egotistical elitist, king narcissist, and mega corrupt, lying racist.
And those were his ‘good’ attributes.
Another gee wiz fact. He picked Walking Corpse Autopen as his VP because he was the BEST life insurance policy. Even a would-be-assassin knew better than to knockoff Obama knowing that his VP would be far worse (if that was even remotely possible), but which turned out to be true).
I never liked the man from the first time I heard him speak. I felt that he was arrogant and self centered. He is an opportunist that hates the whites that got him elected. The 70% that approved of his presidency either had blinders on or thier heads in the sand. What the hell did he accomplish in his 8 years of division?
Shame on Obama, Biden and Harris for putting politics into Jackson’s funeral. Michelle is still playing the race card along with her husband. As president and first lady, they live and lived a privileged life. They raked in millions after his presidency, but Michelle still whines about how tough her life was. Obama was the worst president. Two years as a senator, he ran for president with no other experience. I felt that he was always talking down to Americans when he spoke. Arrogant to the core.
I wonder where they found the “African-American” roses?
Obama, nothing short of a Muslim Sand Negro. Just saying it politely.
Not to worry, Obama is not going to waste his race cards.
Well, don’t act surprised.
He is after all lil half black osambo an illegal kenyan rag head b——.
May Obama lose his voice! If he is reduced to Sign Language so will his influence be reduced as well! As for Jackson’s son, I have long liked him better than his father!
O’Bama, the President who financed Iran and put them where they are today, who painted
a “red line”, really pink and told ISIS not to cross it, who announced the time and place of
attacks against ISIS days before. Now his trying to put Virginia on the right track with their
vote on redistricting. He can go back home to his rich, white neighbors and leave us alone.