ROOKE: Former Democrat Power Couple Finally Lose Their Grip On American Public

Love them or hate them, the Obamas have been the “it” family in American politics for over a decade, but that time has officially come to an end.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama released a podcast Wednesday with a surprisingly unenthusiastic response from Americans. Typically, someone with her political and media “star power,” it’s assumed that viewers would flock to support her projects. However, she has less than 20k subscribers to her YouTube channel, her first episode received less than 60k views, and her most recent video uploaded Thursday morning has just 966 views (when this was published).

This is not a good showing for Michelle, considering that she had the full court press done by their friends in legacy media. She went on the top shows to promote its release, and several prominent outlets ran glorified ads for her podcast, and yet it didn’t receive the support one would expect.

Similarly, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is well-known but doesn’t hold the same level of power as the Obamas, released his podcast less than a week before Michelle. Newsom’s podcast has almost 26k subscribers and close to 1 million views on its first episode, featuring conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. His lowest-viewed episode still has 18k views.

Former President Barack Obama’s meteoric rise to power began almost a decade ago and placed him as the leader of the Democrat party. Despite his policies leading to division among Americans and an economic crisis that transferred massive amounts of wealth to elites, he remained the party’s “go-to guy.” That is until 2024, when it became clear his control over voters was waning. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

While at a get-out-the-vote event for former Vice President Kamala Harris, Obama criticized black men for their tepid support of Harris.

“You’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down?” Obama said, referring to President Donald Trump. “That’s not acceptable.”

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” Obama added. “Because part of it makes me think – and I’m speaking to men directly – part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

Black male voters didn’t care for Obama’s rebuke. Khalil Thompson, co-founder and executive director of Win With Black Men, said that while he agreed with Obama on some issues, black male voters are not a “monolith.”

“We’re not a monolith,” Thompson said. “However, we are just like every other American in this country who wants a good paying job, that we can provide for our children and participate in their lives and the lives of our partner, that we can get them home safely, afford to go to the grocery store, save a little for retirement and have a vacation.” (Democrats Devise Plan To Beat Republicans In Midterm Battle)

This moment was the writing on the wall for Democrats who had relied on the Obama family to campaign and raise money for the party in moments of need. However, this all came crashing down during the last election when exit polls showed that black men flocked to Trump’s camp. He and Michelle are no longer the power couple they were eight years ago. Their failure to rally black men for Harris and the lack of support for Michelle’s podcast prove that they no longer command the same level of respect.

Democrats are going to have to find a new leader, because Americans seem to be tuning out the Obamas.

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