It is way past time for former President Obama to clear the field

Joe Biden is the President-elect and now President Trump will serve out the remaining term from being elected in 2016 and sworn in during January 2017 to his presidential term. Barack Obama completed his service to the country as President in 2017.

It is way past time for former President Obama to clear the field.

The United States only has one President at a time. You can look it up and see that even "West Wing" got that right on its show. It is confusing enough to other nations to deal with the outgoing Trump Administration and begin outreach to the incoming Biden Administration without also needing to consider Barack Obama on the stage as a "third" U.S. president.

President-elect Biden said last night in his interview with Lester Holt that he is not coming in to preside over an "Obama third term." Bravo.

No disrespect to "yes we can" Barack, but Biden just received over 80 million votes. Biden is poised to build back stronger and show the world that America is back while also trying to be a "healer in chief" or at least take on a "grandfather in chief" role to unite the United States after a turbulent election and post-election period.

Barack Obama will be the highest selling book author for this year and probably next year according to book industry coverage in the press to date with his latest autobiographical book which is volume one alone. Obama will be back again when volume two is completed to promote that work, as well. Let's hope that it does not coincide with the 2024 Presidential race.

Barack Obama had his turn at the Presidential yoke and his record will speak for itself. He remains one of the most respected persons in the world today and is a "bankable" celebrity for books and other appearances. He also got extremely lucky to launch a Senate campaign against an opponent brought in from Maryland after the first opponent folded in a sex scandal and he had some other good breaks along the way to his "yes we can" 2008 campaign. However, the Trump presidency hangs over Obama's legacy because the country veered hard in that direction after trying out the Obama plans for 8 years.

Biden is deeply indebted to Barack Obama, including for his stump speech support during 2020 in all places except Miami-Dade. Sending Obama to Miami-Dade was a colossal Biden campaign tactical blunder to put Obama there since the Cuban population is alienated by Obama's foreign policy towards Cuba. And, the Democrats got whipped in Miami-Dade up and down the ballot.

President-elect Biden is drawing on his personal relationships in the Senate and as Vice President to put a leadership team in place to run the White House, the foreign policy/intelligence community and ultimately the rest of the U.S. government. He will draw upon some who served President Obama both in the 2008 and 2012 campaigns and during the Obama Administration. Indeed, quite a few of the Biden transition team advisers burnish Obama era credentials. Of course, there are others who burnish Bill Clinton credentials and even some with Jimmy Carter credentials plus others with various combinations of Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Obama ties again.

What Biden needs more than anything is to have the world stage to himself. Someone, whether that is Valerie Jarrett or David Axelrod, from the Obama universe needs to tap Obama on the shoulder and prod him to clear the field and yield the limelight to Joe Biden.

No doubt Barack Obama probably feels that he constrained himself by not having his current book come out until after the November 2020 election and allowed a cushion of some time thereafter as well to make sure the election was settled. If Trump had won, then there is no problem with Obama competing for media air time and making late night appearances on Colbert and the like to promote sales of his book.

It is completely different with a Biden win.

Barack Obama should fade from the limelight. He does not need to do a book promotion tour while Biden is looking to step into the White House in January 2021. Barack Obama is a distraction for Joe Biden. Obama needs to move aside gracefully, acknowledge the 80 million vote total as an amazing accomplishment for Biden and the Democratic party and celebrate Biden as the head of the Democratic party. Obama needs to leave the stage unless asked to come back and bring his formidable talents to campaign, for example, in the two run-off Senate races in Georgia.

Biden and his team needs to have the chance to make their own mistakes, celebrate their own singular triumphs and shape the world in their own image.

According to David Donald's account as a biographer of Abraham Lincoln, long before Lincoln launched his national political career, Lincoln fretted about the ambition needed to pursue and obtain a Congressional seat, a gubernatorial seat or a Presidential seat. Yet, for Lincoln, even obtaining these lofty political offices was not the apparent driver to satisfy his grand ambition which instead was to be known by his fellow man and those in the future as having contributed greatly to humanity. According to Donald, in his darker moods, Lincoln as a young man lamented "that he had done nothing to make any human being remember that he had lived."

Legacy matters and for Obama it probably means being recognized for Obamacare, for the tracking and capture/killing of bin Laden and for being the first African American elected as President.

Biden will need to go in his own direction as President and build his legacy, too. President Trump may stay active in politics, and pursue his own legacy efforts by running again for President in 2024.

President-elect Biden has a lot of history to consider for guidance as he takes office and looks to paths forged by FDR, Harry Truman and Bill Clinton as they entered office during various times of crisis. He might also wish to review Reagan's move into the White House, too.

The future looks bright for a Biden Administration given his Covid team and foreign policy team. Let him have the first 100 days of a new Administration to lead the country in the direction that he believes is best for all. Let him have an opportunity to work during a "honeymoon" period as a new President, and let's see if he launches a new direction for the country that will gain popular support and allow him to handle the Presidency for two terms at age 78.

Tim McTaggart, November 25, 2020.