Is Hakeem Jeffries the Next Barack Obama? Don’t Rush Him
“House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy,” he said. “Benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach …”
And on he went through his alphabet. By the time he got to Trumpland with “maturity over Mar-a-Lago” and “quality-of-life issues over QAnon,” some of the voices in the crowd were cheerfully sounding like an ‘Amen’ chorus, while others were beginning to boo and jeer.
Hey, nobody ever said politics was always going to be pretty.
Twitter and other social media had a jolly time. “Hakeem Jeffries is Obama 2.0, and WILL be president one day, would you support that?” one Twitter user tweeted. They were not alone.
But, alas, having built up your hopes (or dread), I must caution that this is not the first time Jeffries has found himself in this “Who’s the next Barack?” spotlight.
When the Washington Post asked him if he was “Brooklyn’s Barack Obama,” as one newspaper already was calling him, he downplayed the situation: “There is and will only ever be one Barack Obama, who was a phenomenal president.”
Yet, in talking about political futures, never say never — or “ever.”
I, for one, confess that I never thought Donald Trump had a chance. Until he ran.
And he hasn’t stopped.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
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