It’s 100% Right to Admire Obama—and 100% Wrong to Emulate Him

As 44’s library opens, Democrats should venerate this remarkable politician but understand that times have changed and adapt to the reality of 2026.

The opening of Barack Obama’s presidential library in Chicago this Friday has inspired a new round of conversations around his remarkable rise and presidency. And there’s so much to celebrate. The election of a Black president was a landmark event in American history. From the Affordable Care Act to the legalization of gay marriage, Obama and his team helped advance a wide swath of policies that made life better for Americans. And Barack and Michelle Obama acted with such poise, grace, dignity, and humility that most Americans were proud that they were our First Family.

But while Democrats and liberals should look back upon the Obama years with fondness, they must finally and fully move on from them. The Democratic Party has something of a cult of Obama, a “What Would Barack Do?” mindset, and a fixation with 2008. Liberal columnists call for the party to return to Obama’s policy positions and rhetoric, voters and donors make every presidential primary a search for the next Obama, the words of David Axelrod, David Plouffe, and others involved in the 2008 campaign are treated like gospel. Enough. Barack Obama is a great man. A great Democratic Party will treat Barack Obama as a person, not a messiah.

What’s wrong with Democrats harkening back to their best recent politician, who won in a landslide, got reelected, and governed the country effectively? Three things. First of all, while Barack Obama still walks the earth and looks remarkably similar to when he first ran for president, we are living in much different political times. So we can’t learn much from his successes or failures.

You can believe that the rise of far-right politics in America and the Democratic Party losing ground among voters without college degrees and in rural areas are largely the failures of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and “woke”........

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