From Detractor to Devotee: El-Sayed Welcomes Obama to Michigan
Lansing, MI – Tomorrow, Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed will welcome former President Barack Obama to Michigan, after spending years lambasting the Obama administration. In 2012, El-Sayed was not quiet about his serious problems with the Obama White House, saying:
"This leader has perpetuated war, violated our civil liberties, deported more people from our shores than any other president before him, and the list of his failures goes on.”
In the same essay, he continued his criticism with a bizarre attack on law enforcement:
“I feel no more dignified, no more accepted as cops throughout the country have usurped my right to walk the streets freely without fearing unjustified interference. Inequality has accelerated and the divide between the haves and have-nots in our country has never been starker.”
His criticism may, in part, stem from the fact that the El-Sayed sister-in-law was on the terrorist watch list under Obama’s administration:
Kaitlyn Buss of The Detroit News brings another perspective: El-Sayed was so critical of the former president because Obama was not progressive enough and should have exercised even more government control over Americans’ lives.
“Abdul El-Sayed is no Barack Obama. In terms of what he expects government to do, he's far more ambitious.
If you thought Obama's expansion of the federal government went too far, consider what El-Sayed has in mind.
El-Sayed criticized Obama in the past for the former president's inability to institute what El-Sayed believes was a big enough government, with nationalized, universal health insurance, price controls and expansive environmental authorities.”
But suddenly, El-Sayed has a willingness to bury the hatchet with President Obama and hit the campaign trail, despite the years of criticism. Notably, the El-Sayed campaign has struggled to make inroads with Black voters in Michigan, a demographic Democrats have historically taken for granted.
“Abdul El-Sayed will say anything, do anything, switch any position, and pander to any audience to win,” said Gabe Butzke, a spokesperson for Michigan Forward Network. “He has been content to let his dangerous, anti-American ideas bubble just below the surface as he works to hoodwink Michiganders. If he is willing to turn over a new leaf and campaign with the man he said ‘perpetuated war’ and allowed his sister-in-law to be on the terrorist watch list, what would El-Sayed be capable of as a United States Senator?”
