Obama tries to gaslight America about Abdul El-Sayed
The title reaches for "gaslight," but the actual story is more mundane: a former president making a joke on the trail that landed badly. Obama's riff on tacky middle-class tastes was the kind of thing he's done for years, and it's fair to call it smug. At the same time, the outrage machine on the right was always going to run with it, and the connection to Abdul El-Sayed feels like a stretch unless you already believe the Obama wing of the party looks down on the grassroots left.
What makes this worth watching is what it says about Democratic coalition politics. El-Sayed's supporters spent months arguing the party establishment would never embrace a candidate like him, and a clip of Obama mocking ordinary voters' sensibilities is fuel for that fire. I don't think it moves many votes, but it does reinforce a perception that the party's most famous voice can come across as out of touch.
I'd want to know what El-Sayed himself thinks. If he brushes it off, this is a nothing story. If he leans into it, it becomes a real rift.