Fox contributor Juan Williams recently praised former President Barack Obama for getting involved in the New York City mayoral race, where the self-described "democratic socialist" Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary. Williams wrote: "Yes, Obama has earned his retirement after eight years of honorable service as president. But America is not done with him yet. President Obama, your country needs you to mentor the next generation of leaders -- starting with New York's next mayor, Zohran Mamdani."

So, Obama comes out of "retirement" to embrace a blatant anti-Semite who, among many other brain-dead proposals, wants to "freeze" the rent of many New Yorkers, despite the abject failure of rent control throughout history.

 Also, Obama, along with his former Attorney General Eric Holder, recently released a political ad. The two whipped out the race card to denounce Republican redistricting plans for, as they put it, "diluting the voting power of communities of color."

The subjects Obama chooses to weigh versus those he gives the silent treatment are interesting.

Take his silence on reparations. Obama long opposed them. But as recently as 2021, Obama described his opposition was strategic, rather than of substance. He said: "And what I saw during my presidency was the politics of White resistance and resentment. The talk of 'welfare queens' and the talk of the 'undeserving' poor. And the backlash against affirmative action. All that made the prospect of actually proposing any kind of coherent, meaningful reparations program struck me as, politically, not only a nonstarter but potentially counterproductive."

Obama added: "(It is) perfectly understandable why working-class White folks, middle-class White folks, folks who are having trouble paying the bills or dealing with student loans, wouldn't be too thrilled (about) a massive program that is designed to deal with the past but isn't speaking to their future."

Here's the problem for Obama: Reparations are popular among blacks, but not with any other group. A 2023 YouGov poll found nearly 70% of blacks support "cash payments" for reparations. But a 2025 YouGov poll found only 38% of adult citizens support reparations. Worse, some polling suggests support has declined in recent years. This explains why Obama is mum on the issue. If he opposes them, he loses popularity among blacks. If he supports them, he loses popularity among every other group.

Williams describes Obama as "the most popular national Democrat, with 61 percent of Americans viewing him favorably ..." The question is this: In 2008, when millions of non-blacks voted for the first black president, did they believe they elected a future reparations pusher?

Slavery was legal. The government did not own slaves. Individuals did -- and nearly all were Democrats. Democrats were the party of slavery, the Confederacy, Jim Crow, the KKK, the Southern Manifesto and Dred Scott. They opposed the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and, as a percentage in the House and Senate, voted less for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than did Republicans. Maybe only Democrats should pay reparations.

More recently, Democrats are the party of the welfare state that caused the epidemic of fatherlessness and the party that opposes school choice, preventing urban kids from getting a decent education.

Reparations are the extraction of money from people who were never slave owners to be given to people who were never slaves. If my great-great-grandfather robbed a bank, am I morally and/or legally obligated to pay the money back?

When I tweeted about this, one commenter replied: "No, we're not responsible for our ancestors' actions, but we can acknowledge history and work towards a more just future together."

Elder: "Agreed, but slavery does not make blacks perpetual victims for whom the age old tried and true formula of hard work, sacrifice and deferred gratification does not apply.

"Second, my hope is that at some point you useful idiots will begin to appreciate the difference between the arsonist and the firefighter."

Another commented: "What about reparations for the descendants of the 675,000 white Northerners and more than 30,000 Black Northerners who died freeing the slaves? What reparations for me as a descendant of people who ran Underground Railroad safe-houses fighting off Bounty Hunters and Federal Marshals to get 'fugitive' slaves across the border."

Good question. When will a reporter ask Mr. Obama?

Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an "Elderado," visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM

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