{"id":599,"date":"2026-08-10T22:08:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T22:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=599"},"modified":"2026-08-10T22:08:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T22:08:28","slug":"barack-your-country-needs-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=599","title":{"rendered":"Barack, Your Country Needs You"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you haven\u2019t yet seen this sketch featuring Barack Obama from the final episode of Larry David\u2019s HBO series, you owe it to yourself.<\/p>\n

Read more Another Forty Patriots<\/a><\/p>\n

In it, Obama plays himself as president, and David plays himself as a White House aide. The skit is set in 2014. The premise is that a famous, tempest-in-a-teapot episode where Obama was criticized for wearing an \u201cunpresidential\u201d tan suit to a press conference was really Larry David\u2019s fault. In the sketch, while Obama is out of the Oval Office, David spills a drink on Obama\u2019s suit and tie, and David persuades him to shift to the tan suit.<\/p>\n

The skit is hilarious and Obama\u2019s performance is inspired, including lots of ad libs. When I first watched it, I thought that maybe this was AI. Would Obama really do a skit with Larry David? But according to Variety<\/em>, the show is produced by Obama via his and Michelle\u2019s Higher Ground company, and why not?<\/p>\n

More from Robert Kuttner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

OK, but wait a minute. This was great fun, but Donald Trump is leading the country straight to hell. Surely Obama has more important things to do than playing it for laughs with Larry David. And if he can engage with Larry David, he can engage with Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Obama, among the most admired and unblemished of Democrats, has dipped a toe into politics only sparingly, doing one event in May with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (who has been compared with Obama), and having a strategy call Friday with Abdul El-Sayed. The story is that Obama feels that former presidents do not get involved criticizing current presidents; he is highly enjoying the privacy of his post-presidency, and engaging with Trump might backfire by making him a MAGA target both figuratively and literally.<\/p>\n

Obama may also feel that his involvement would be a racial trigger. But when Obama won a landslide in 2008, he did it by carrying several states that Democrats had not won in decades, with the votes of lots of white people. Obama shames Trump\u2019s racism.<\/p>\n

Read more Dems\u2019 Dilemma, From the Mountains to the Prairies<\/a><\/p>\n

Obama is right that former presidents generally stay out of politics. But these are not ordinary times. Everything that Obama tried to build is being torn to shreds, especially the sense of common ground and common decency, as well as the policies and capacity of government and the democracy itself.<\/p>\n

Watching Obama perform with Larry David (of all people), I was reminded of just how good Obama is\u2014both as a public figure and as a person\u2014his wit and capacity to inspire, and the drastic contrast with the infantile Trump. Obama is not only a figure of great eloquence, intellect, and public mindedness. His family is exemplary; and in contrast to the flagrantly corrupt Trump, not a touch of scandal or self-dealing characterized his presidency.<\/p>\n

Obama is a serious person, a reminder of what the country can be at its best. Trump is America at its worst, a pathetic clown\u2014but with all the awesome powers of the presidency.<\/p>\n

Obama needs to make some high-profile addresses, calling out Trump\u2019s serial lunacies. If that baited Trump into responding, so much the better. It would only underscore the contrast.<\/p>\n

At this moment of extreme peril for our democracy, we need all hands on deck, especially Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Read more NYC Tenants Sue Over Spying Operation in Public Housing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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It\u2019s great to have fun creating your library and doing a skit with Larry David, but it\u2019s time to engage with Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[294],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tap","tag-tagged-barack-obama-books-culture-the-arts-donald-trump-on-tap-politics-television"],"yoast_head":"\nBarack, Your Country Needs You - Frontier Housing Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=599\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Barack, Your Country Needs You - Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s great to have fun creating your library and doing a skit with Larry David, but it\u2019s time to engage with Trump.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=599\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-10T22:08:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=599#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=599\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\"},\"headline\":\"Barack, Your Country Needs You\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-10T22:08:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=599\"},\"wordCount\":584,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Tagged: Barack Obama,\u00a0Books, Culture & the Arts,\u00a0Donald Trump,\u00a0ON TAP,\u00a0Politics,\u00a0Television\"],\"articleSection\":[\"TAP\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=599#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=599\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=599\",\"name\":\"Barack, Your Country Needs You - 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