It’s past time Democrats got over Michelle Obama

Is Michelle Obama, the great hope of the Democratic Party, teasing her political suitors?

Last week, she announced the launch of her new podcast, IMO (short for In My Opinion), which she is co-hosting with her brother, Craig Robinson.

To be fair to the former first lady, its content is defiantly non-political. Obama will share her opinions on “the challenges you’re grappling with in life ... whether you’re navigating the grey areas of marriage and raising kids, or dealing with a little friend drama – or even figuring out how to put yourself out there in the dating world”. The podcast has already reignited speculation about the state of the Obamas’ marriage.

Former first lady Michelle Obama, left, and her brother, college basketball coach Craig Robinson, take part in a featured session and taping of their new podcast, IMO, at the Austin Convention Centre in Texas last week.Credit: Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP

But as the Democrat identity crisis continues in the wake of their crushing loss in November, and when starting a podcast is beginning to be seen as a pre-requisite for a campaign for the presidency, Democrat leaders may also be asking themselves a tantalising question: Could this finally be the launchpad for a run for the White House in 2028?

Michelle Obama has never been known to love the political spotlight, but that hasn’t stopped Democrats from pining after her for the better part of a decade.

Polling suggested that Obama would have been Hillary Clinton’s strongest challenger in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. In July 2020, a survey revealed that 45 per cent of Democrats – more than any other potential candidate could boast – would have backed her if Joe Biden had been replaced on top of the ticket.

And four years later, shortly before Biden was given the boot, a poll found not only that Obama would have been the only potential replacement favoured to defeat Donald Trump in the general election, but would have won handsomely.

It has become a political tradition on the left to rave about Obama’s quadrennial speeches at the Democratic National Convention.

“Conservatives, liberals and celebrities praise Michelle Obama’s speech,” reported CNN in 2016. “Michelle Obama Stole The Show,” declared NPR in 2020. In 2024, the New York Times praised her for having “enthralled a packed arena” by delivering an “emphatic” takedown of Trump.

It would be no wonder if a party starved for talent, coming off two losses to Trump in three election cycles, would take heart in her new creative outlet.

After all, her announcement comes just days after California Governor Gavin Newsom launched his own podcast ahead of his likely bid for the presidency come 2028. And although the ostensible purpose of Obama’s show is apolitical, connecting with her audience on other topics of discussion could conceivably be a savvy political move.

Of course, it’s more likely that IMO is just another moneymaker for the power couple’s entertainment company, Higher Ground Productions.

But Democrats should welcome both her and Newsom’s forays into the world of alternative media anyway. Many ingredients combined to create the conditions that led to Trump’s return to the presidency, but few would deny that his domination of this segment of media was a key one.

Trump charmed and weaved his way through a series of humanising interviews with the likes of Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Andrew Schulz that exposed him to new audiences in a deeper way than an interview on any of the traditional television networks could have done.

Though it might be impossible to create a left-wing version of the ecosystem in which Trump prospered, Democrats need to reach outside the friendly yet stultifying confines of the mainstream media. Fawning questions and safe spaces have done their arguments no good.

In any case, there is little doubt that it was their policies – and the poor arguments they made for them – that cost them the election last year. While some Democrats have deluded themselves into imagining their struggles to be the consequence of some unfair, structural disadvantage, their extreme, unpopular agenda was at the root of them.

And when Michelle Obama once again disappoints the Democrats and opts not to save them in 2028, they will not only need an alternative. They will need to have taken a long hard look in the mirror, and understand precisely why they lost America.

Isaac Schorr is a staff writer at Mediaite and a Robert Novak fellow.

The Telegraph, London

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.