For Obama, $400,000 speeches are a bad idea
Former president Barack Obama’s decision to accept $400,000 for a Wall Street speech certainly has been noticed by partisans on the left and right. Liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for instance, said she was “troubled,” while Fox
Business used it to call Obama “Wall Street’s newest fat cat.”
But should the rest of America care? In ordinary times, Obama’s decision to cash in wouldn’t be comment-worthy. He has led a life of public service paying well below what he could have made in corporate law or as a business executive. Now, with bills to pay and girls to put through college, he wants to play financial catchup. Most presidents since Gerald Ford have opted to do the same.
But these are not normal times. In a little over 100 days, President Trump has mired his administration in a Russian influence scandal, broken new ground in peddling falsehoods, brought the nation closer to war with North Korea, threatened to sabotage trade relations with America’s closest neighbors, displayed impatience for complex issues, allowed his White House to descend into petty infighting, and set a record for time spent on the golf course.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see an understaffed administration with erratic, divided leadership lurching into a political crisis, or something worse. If that moment comes, America might find it needs Obama as a voice of reason.
The former president ran a relatively scandal-free administration known for caution. Despite political setbacks that cost the Democratic Party dearly during his tenure, nostalgic Americans pushed his approval ratings above 60% in polls as he left office.
Obama is a smart man, smart enough to know when to do the normal ex-president thing of keeping his mouth shut, and when to say that things are going wrong. It’s something he might need to do.
While his views wouldn’t carry much weight with Trump loyalists, they would with centrists and Never-Trump Republicans. Obama and former president George W. Bush could be the only leaders with the clout to grab national attention if Trump’s erratic behavior goes too far.
But that can’t happen if Obama’s buck-raking speeches turn him into a symbol of everything about Washington that voters detest. Obama has already taken $400,000 for an appearance before television advertisers, and now plans to address a health care conference sponsored by investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald. The two speeches are potent symbols of a political class disconnected from voters who struggle to afford the American dream for their children while earning in an entire year what Obama earns in 11 minutes.
And for what? Unless there is something we don’t know, the Obamas don’t need the money. He and his wife, Michelle, have signed a deal for two books with a $65 million advance.
Indeed, if there is a lesson to be learned from the 2016 campaign that put Trump in the White House, it is that there are consequences when politicians appear to set aside the values they stood for in their public lives to capitalize on their years of service.
Most Americans agreed with Obama when he said, “At a certain point, you’ve earned enough money.” Today, he ought to consider taking his own advice.