Eric Holder Has a Warning for Democrats: Stay Away from Obama's Record
That criticism must have been getting too close for comfort.
After Wednesday night’s Democratic primary debate featured 2020 wannabes attacking former Vice President Joe Biden on aspects of the Obama administration, former Attorney General Eric Holder took to Twitter to comment.
And the threat was barely veiled.
”To my fellow Democrats,” Holder wrote. “Be wary of attacking the Obama record. Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained – for you or the party – by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President.”
To my fellow Democrats. Be wary of attacking the Obama record. Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained – for you or the party – by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President.
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) August 1, 2019
That seemed a bit more heavy-handed than friendly political advice.
In fact, it sounded a lot like a warning that 2020 Democrats who don’t shy away from criticizing the Barack Obama White House risk blowback that could sink their chances of getting the party’s nomination.
Holder’s tweet came after Biden spent two hours on stage fending off attacks at various points from his rivals for the nomination, including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, as well as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Booker in particular hit Biden for failing to defend his own position in the Obama administration when it comes to policies that don’t fit the agenda of the woke Democrats of 2019.
“You can’t have it both ways,” Booker told Biden at one point. “You invoke President Obama more than anyone else in this campaign. You can’t do it when it’s convenient and then duck it when it’s not.”
For the old hands of the Obama administration, accepting that any part of those eight years of utterly misguided rule is not “convenient” to current Democrats is clearly unacceptable, judging by Holder’s tweet.
And this isn’t just any former Obama Cabinet member talking. Holder was Obama’s self-proclaimed “wingman,” a guy who spent almost six years as the president’s attorney general and legal water carrier.
Among his dubious achievements was the “fast and furious” gun scandal, in which a Justice Department run anti-gun operation was linked to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Holder was so bad that in 2012, when the House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt of Congress, 17 members of his own party voted in favor of the resolution.
This is the guy who’s warning current candidates to stay away from the legacy of the administration he served?
Many Twitter users weren’t buying it.
Obama’s wingman still covering for him!
What record? Obama’s legacy’s been all but erased…thank the Good Lord!
Oh…except for your team’s crimes! That’s being addressed by #BillBarr as we speak.
Run along now little Eric, you might wanna get out of Dodge for this!!
— Bill Peguillan (@BillPegs) August 1, 2019
??let’s see, like fast & Furious gun running scheme, GIving our enemy IRAN billions of $$, letting ISIS murder thousands, Red lines in the sand & thousands died in Syria, Benghazi ??, you can keep ur doctor, destroyed Libya & made terrorists stronger, tell Vad I like him..etc
— domd (@blackdog758) August 1, 2019
Everyone — the AG that didn’t prosecute any of the major players behind the largest fraud racket in the history of the world has logged on to give advice.
— Aaron Kincer (@Aaron_Kincer) August 1, 2019
It’s just possible, of course, that this warning wasn’t from Holder alone.
Obama has been forced to watch while President Donald Trump has taken apart his ill-fated legacy piece by piece since taking office in 2017 — including the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate agreement and environmental regulations that were aimed at destroying the American fossil fuel industry.
For him to hear Democrats also attacking his record must be unbearable.
Given Obama’s support in the Democratic Party today, he could singlehandedly make or break a nomination campaign.
Holder’s tweet might have been intended to Democratic candidates as a reminder of where the power in their party really lies.
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