Barack Obama Explains Why He Rarely Criticizes Trump’s Presidency: ‘I’m Not a Commentator’

Former President Barack Obama has clarified why he rarely weighs in on Donald Trump’s presidency, emphasizing his reluctance to shift from a political leader to a commentator.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New Yorker, Obama explained his reasoning behind not engaging in daily critiques of Trump, despite frequent mentions of him by the current president in interviews and on social media.

“For me to function like Jon Stewart, even once a week, just going off, just ripping what was happening — which, by the way, I’m glad Jon’s doing it — then I’m not a political leader, I’m a commentator,” Obama said.

He added, “The media environment is so difficult that people don’t even know all the stuff I am doing, right? And, I think, when they do see me, then the sense is ‘Well, why isn’t he doing that every day’ instead of just during a midterm election, or during a referendum campaign around gerrymandering, or what have you?”

Obama also acknowledged that he is more involved in politics now than he intended to be at this stage of his life. While he accepts this reality, he noted that Michelle Obama prefers he step back more often.

“She wants to see her husband easing up and spending more time with her, enjoying what remains of our lives,” he said. “It does create a genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her. I’m more forgiving of it, in the sense that I understand why people feel that way, because people aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other presidents. They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-president was the main surrogate for the party for four election cycles after they left office.”

Trump has frequently targeted Obama since his return to office, including a racist AI-generated video of Obama and Michelle Obama as apes posted in February. While Obama claims he doesn’t take such attacks personally, he drew a clear line when it came to his family.

“I mean, I’m always offended when my wife and kids get dragged into things, because they didn’t choose this,” Obama said. “That’s a line that even people whose politics I deeply reject, I would expect them to care about. I would never talk about somebody’s family in that way.”