Barack Obama Is Back and Reminding Us What a President Looks Like

It’s only been nine months.
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Yesterday President Barack Obama re-emerged on the scene like Han Solo coming back at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope. Okay, maybe that's overstating it a little, but what can I say, we've been severely lacking in hope and here we have Mr. Hope himself back on the national political scene campaigning and reminding us what it was like to have an actual honest-to-God adult speaking to Americans. He campaigned for Democrats in both New Jersey and Virginia and in the process threw some political elbows at his successor and the depressing state of the American political landscape. You know how when you used to wake up and check Twitter, it was kind of fun, but now it just feels like someone spitting directly into your face first thing in the morning? Yeah, these speeches were the first things in a while that don't make me feel that way.

Here's a highlight reel of his New Jersey speech, where he goes in on the way that a certain unnamed reality star turned politician has time and time again attempted to divide us.

But perhaps my favorite moment from the day of campaigning came during President Obama's speech in Virginia on behalf of Democratic candidate for governor and pediatric neurologist Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam. Northam's Republican opponent, Ed Gillespie, has been running ads that attempt to take Northam's tie-breaking vote against a bill that would have banned sanctuary cities in Virginia and turn it into a claim that the lieutenant governor is soft on the MS-13 gang. That's pretty crazy, right? For one thing, there's no evidence that sanctuary cities lead to an increase in crime. For another, it's so clearly and transparently an attempt at using a racist dog whistle. President Obama had some thoughts on the ads.

"I don't think anybody really thinks that somebody who spent his life performing surgeries on soldiers and children is really cozying up to street gangs," Obama said mockingly. "It strains credulity."

Look, I'm not saying it's the greatest burn ever. In fact, it's just kind of matter-of-factly true, but I point it out to say this: How wild is it to hear a man with the title President say the word "credulity" again? It almost brought a tear to my eye. There's no way that Donald Trump doesn't think "credulity" is an hors d'oeuvre featuring raw vegetables and dip that he never samples because he's too busy asking someone to go pick him up fast food. Please stick around and give more speeches, Obama! Seeing these was like drinking an ice-cold glass of water after running a marathon on a hot day. Delicious, necessary, and potentially life-saving.


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Thanks, Obama!