Principles aren’t supposed to be seasonal.
They’re not winter coats you stash away when the weather changes, only to dust them off when it’s politically convenient.
The whole point of taking a stand — especially on something as foundational as fair elections — is that it binds you when it’s inconvenient, not just when it’s easy.
Otherwise, it’s not a principle at all. It’s branding.
And voters can tell the difference. They may not track every procedural nuance, but they recognize the smell of selective outrage.
When the same tactic is condemned as democracy-ending one year and quietly (or enthusiastically) embraced the next, it reads as opportunism dressed up in moral language — the kind that erodes trust faster than any electoral map ever could.
Which brings us to former President Barack Obama.
The 44th President of the United States raised quite a few eyebrows on Tuesday when he took to X to share a post praising the newly gerrymandered Virginia voting map:
Congratulations, Virginia! Republicans are trying to tilt the midterm elections in their favor, but they haven’t done it yet. Thanks for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 22, 2026
“Congratulations, Virginia!” Obama said. “Republicans are trying to tilt the midterm elections in their favor, but they haven’t done it yet. Thanks for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.”
Alas, the internet brought some receipts of the former president.
Guess he didn’t actually mean this. Shocker. https://t.co/JDHFElWiNa pic.twitter.com/qlLNqqMDwR
— MAZE (@mazemoore) April 21, 2026
Former President Obama in July 2020:
“For too long, gerrymandering has contributed to stalled progress and warped our representative government.”
👉🏻 https://t.co/iCwLKmVicx https://t.co/xtJ3DZ8ibb
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) April 22, 2026
This guy is such a fraud. He went from backing independent commissions to backing gerrymandering. And all to benefit his party, which can’t govern anyway. https://t.co/WEytst8rTN
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) April 22, 2026
“This guy is such a fraud,” California Post opinion editor Joel Pollak posted. “He went from backing independent commissions to backing gerrymandering. And all to benefit his party, which can’t govern anyway.”
Harsh, but more than a little true.
As recently as six years ago — so not exactly ancient history — Obama was dead-set against gerrymandering and all it entails. And now this horrifically gerrymandered map, which effectively gives the Democrats a 10-1 edge in Virginia, is the greatest thing since sliced bread to the former president.
This is clearly just the latest example of the sort of about-face that has become depressingly common in modern politics. And it needs to be called out.
This wasn’t a subtle shift or a nuanced reconsideration of the trade-offs involved. It was a full-throated denunciation of gerrymandering when it hurt his side, followed by a full-throated celebration when it helped.
That kind of whiplash proves the left’s underlying “principles” were never all that principled to begin with.
And that’s the real problem here. Once the standard becomes “it’s fine when we do it,” you’ve effectively abandoned the argument altogether.
You’re no longer defending fair processes or democratic norms, you’re just defending outcomes. The map isn’t good because it’s fair; it’s good because it benefits the right team. Strip away the rhetoric, and what you’re left with is a naked endorsement of power politics, where the only rule that matters is whether your side comes out ahead.
That mindset all but guarantees more gerrymandering down the line. Because if one party treats it as a necessary evil while the other treats it as a moral imperative, the race to the bottom becomes inevitable.
Look, norms don’t erode in a vacuum; they collapse when influential figures signal that they’re optional. And when someone with Obama’s stature shrugs at that line — or steps right over it — it sends a message far louder than any past speech about fairness ever could.
At some point, you either believe the rules matter, or you don’t. And if they only matter when they constrain your opponents, then they were never really rules to you at all, just obstacles waiting to be cleared.
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