Obama to Campaign for El-Sayed Despite Candidate’s Past Criticism of His Presidency

Former US President Barack Obama is set to campaign for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed later this month, years after El-Sayed sharply criticised Obama’s presidency and at one point argued that the country was not “better off” after his time in office.

The planned appearance highlights a significant shift in the relationship between the two Democrats. El-Sayed has praised Obama’s personal impact while repeatedly arguing that his administration did not go far enough on healthcare, economic reform, civil liberties, immigration and foreign policy.

Comments reviewed by CNN’s KFile show that El-Sayed’s criticism stretched from Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign through the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. He accused Obama of perpetuating war, overseeing high levels of deportations and preserving economic and healthcare systems that he said favoured corporations over ordinary Americans.

In a 2012 essay published shortly after Obama won re-election, El-Sayed, who said he voted for Obama, accused the president of failing to deliver the “hope and change” associated with his 2008 campaign.

“This leader has perpetuated war, violated our civil liberties, deported more people from our shores than any other president before him, and the list of his failures goes on,” El-Sayed wrote.

He also criticised the Affordable Care Act, calling it a “watered-down reform that kowtows to the interests of healthcare lobbies.” El-Sayed further objected to US military operations in Pakistan and Yemen, drone strikes, economic inequality and what he described as an erosion of civil liberties.

His criticism continued in 2017 while he was running for governor of Michigan. El-Sayed said there were “a lot of things I disagree with President Obama on” and described Obama’s political approach as “fairly centrist, middle-of-the-road Democratic policies.”

El-Sayed nevertheless credited Obama with accomplishments, including the US auto industry bailout, and has repeatedly acknowledged the former president’s personal influence on his political ambitions. He has said Obama’s 2008 victory helped him believe that someone with his background and name could aspire to public office.

In 2020, El-Sayed again argued that the United States was “not better off” eight years after Obama was elected, while stressing that he loved the former president. He said Obama had failed to fundamentally change the economic and healthcare systems and warned that those shortcomings had contributed to the political conditions that helped Donald Trump rise.

El-Sayed’s campaign has pushed back against the suggestion that his criticism reflected hostility toward Obama, pointing to occasions when he praised the former president. In a statement provided to CNN, El-Sayed said Obama “changed what was possible for someone like me” and described his leadership as an inspiration for the next generation.

Obama is now preparing to campaign for El-Sayed as the Democratic nominee faces Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. The contest is being closely watched because its outcome could influence control of the US Senate, putting Obama’s planned intervention in the race under additional scrutiny.