“It’s not as if we didn’t see some of this coming,” said Barack Obama, a note of bleak humour in his voice. “I will admit it’s worse than even I expected, but I did warn y’all!”
The crowd at a sports arena in Norfolk, Virginia, half-laughed and half-groaned. “I did,” Obama added. “You can run the tape.”
Now Obama is back on the campaign trail, for Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia. It gives him a platform to deliver an alternative State of the Union address. And the gloves are off.
To hear the expectant buzz of the 7,000-plus crowd in Norfolk as candidate Abigail Spanberger promised that Obama’s entrance was just moments away was to be reminded that Democrats did once have a president who could match Trump’s superstar charisma.
Barrack Obama completely dismantled his campaign infrastructure immediately after he was elected, knowing full well that the Republicans and their think tanks were targeting local races and federal judges around the country. Why did he do this? Because the Democrats did not want to engage with populism on a mass level beyond campaign slogans and getting individual establishment-friendly candidates in office.
Neoliberals do not like populism. They’re not fully committed to democracy, either. Or, at least, their support for democracy is conditional. Friedrich Hayek, one of the architects of neoliberalism, once said:
I think it’s worth noting that this is not unique or exclusive to neoliberals. Really, any ideologue or technocrat will only ever support democracy conditionally.