Former President Barack Obama privately met with freshman House Democrats to share advice on the key fight they face while opposing the Trump administration.
Nearly three dozen newly elected lawmakers met at the Capitol Hill home of Rep. Rosa DeLauro for the event hosted by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to Politico, where Obama shared his wisdom.
“I get feeling discouraged sometimes,” Obama said Wednesday night, according to excerpts provided by his office to Politico. ”I get feeling worn out, tired, and embattled. But in our second term, Denis McDonough, my chief of staff, used to pass out stickers based on a conversation that he and I had had that talked about, ‘we do not succumb to cynicism — cynicism is our enemy.’ And it’s pervasive in this town.”
“And that, I think, is our most important battle, right?” he continued. “We don’t give into that, and then we’re going to be able to figure out the same stuff.” Obama added that McDonough had printed out stickers that read, “fight cynicism.”
The former president went on to discuss the 2004 election, telling those gathered that he had “been in your shoes” and comparing that moment to the present one Democrats find themselves in.
”What people don’t recall is that John Kerry lost that election,” Obama explained. “And we didn’t control the House, and we did not control the Senate. And Tom Daschle, who was then the Democratic leader of the Senate, lost, which is unheard of. And Karl Rove, who was the chief architect of George Bush’s campaigns and political career was, could be found on all the TV stations, talking about the ‘permanent Republican majority’ that had been created.”
He described the widespread feeling of despair felt by Democrats at the time and likened it to the atmosphere following the 2024 election that saw President Donald Trump win in all seven battleground states.
Obama reminded attendees, however, that things ultimately turned out well for Democrats back then.
“Two years later, Nancy Pelosi was the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives. And four years later, somehow, I ended up being president,” he said.
”The reason I tell you that is not for you to, you know, feel complacent. It’s to indicate that the work that you are doing right now, the investment you’re making, the focus that you’re applying, the issues that you are developing, the interactions that you’re having with your constituencies. All that is creating the momentum and the opportunity for change.”
Obama has been reconsidering his policy of maintaining a low-key public presence, according to CNN, largely because of Trump’s attacks on Democrats and attempts to deny them power.
An insider told the outlet, “He doesn’t want to be the leader of the party—he was the leader of the free world. But it feels like sometimes he’s got to speak his mind.”
As a result, he campaigned for Democrats Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey as they ran for, and won, governor in their respective states.
He also came out in support of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50, writing on X, “Over the long term, we shouldn’t have political gerrymandering in America... but since Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this.”
