Barack Obama has finally stopped pretending. After years of positioning himself as a mainstream Democrat despite his far-left record, the former president has now openly embraced the socialist wing of the Democratic Party as essential to the party’s electoral future. His recent comments suggest a dramatic shift in how the Democratic establishment views its radical contingent, and it’s a telling moment about where the party’s true north actually points.
During a live taping of Pod Save America in Washington on Thursday, Obama reflected on the party’s performance in the 2025 elections. While he acknowledged that Democrats had a “successful Tuesday,” he emphasized that significant work to counteract Republican gains remained. But his framing of what success actually means revealed the real priority. He celebrated that “progressives rise up,” noting this serves as a “valuable reminder that the American populace is indeed paying attention.” The message was clear: the radical left is the future of the party, and key to the Democrats’ long-term strategy.
What’s particularly striking is how Obama used specific examples to illustrate his point about diverse candidates winning. He highlighted Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race alongside Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City’s mayoral election. By placing these two in the same breath, Obama effectively legitimized socialism as just another acceptable lane within the Democratic coalition. This wasn’t accidental framing.
Mamdani is no moderate. As a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he has called for “seizing the means of production” and proclaimed during his victory speech that “there is no problem too large for the government to solve.” During his campaign, he advocated for government-run grocery stores, taxpayer-funded busing, childcare, rent freezes, and increased taxation on high earners. These aren’t quirky policy preferences; they’re foundational socialist positions. And Obama explicitly praised him, calling to congratulate Mamdani on his campaign and offering to serve as a sounding board for future endeavors.
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The significance of this moment cannot be overstated. When Obama ran for president, he deliberately positioned himself as a uniter and a mainstream Democrat. Yes, he governed considerably to the left, but he maintained the pretense of reasonableness. He even insisted that Obamacare was a middle-of-the-road approach to health care reform because it wasn’t a true single-payer system. He understood that most Americans weren’t ready to embrace socialism openly, so he marketed his policies as Democratic centrism.
That framework has now collapsed, at least according to Obama. He’s advising Democrats to stop imposing “strict litmus tests” on candidates, which sounds reasonable until you realize what he’s actually saying: the party should embrace socialists without reservation. The Democratic mission, as he frames it, should be to “ensure everyone feels engaged” and foster discussions on dignity and respect. Noble-sounding language that conveniently obscures the normalization of radical economic ideology within the party apparatus.
Mamdani’s win has already energized the far left, and Obama’s open flirtation with socialist ideas marks a real turning point in how the Democratic Party is willing to define itself.
What makes this transformation so consequential is what it means for the American political landscape. Obama spent his entire political career proving that socialists could work within the Democratic establishment if they simply rebranded their ambitions in moderate language. Now he’s essentially admitting that rebranding is no longer necessary. The Democratic Party doesn’t need to pretend anymore. Socialism isn’t a fringe position to be managed and contained—it’s a legitimate expression of Democratic values that deserves a seat at the table.
That’s a remarkable evolution for a party that once considered itself the defender of capitalism. And it suggests that the Democrats aren’t moderating socialism to make it palatable to mainstream America. They’re mainstreaming socialism by making it central to Democratic identity.
This changes everything.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is still ongoing, and polls are now showing Americans are increasingly blaming the Democrats for this mess.
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