Obama to campaign for Abdul El-Sayed despite candidate once calling his presidency a 'failure'

WASHINGTON, DC: Former President Barack Obama is getting ready to hit the campaign trail for Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat running for Senate in Michigan. It’s an interesting move, considering El-Sayed hasn’t held back when it comes to criticizing Obama’s time in office. He’s called Obama’s presidency a "failure" and argued that Americans weren’t better off after two terms.

CNN’s KFILE dug up several of El-Sayed’s comments over the years. He’s taken aim at Obama’s record on everything from foreign policy and civil liberties to immigration, health care, and the economy.

Abdul El-Sayed's past criticism of Obama

In comments reviewed by CNN’s KFILE from Obama’s 2012 reelection through the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, El-Sayed faulted him for perpetuating war, eroding civil liberties, overseeing record deportations, and preserving economic and healthcare systems that he said favored corporations over ordinary people.

He also dismissed the Affordable Care Act as insufficient and argued that Obama’s incremental approach helped create the conditions for President Donald Trump’s rise.

Editorials, interviews, and panel discussions all show El-Sayed taking a clear stand against Obama in the past, an odd match, considering Obama’s now on the campaign trail supporting him in a high-stakes Michigan Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers, which could tip the balance in the Senate.

In a 2012 HuffPost essay written shortly after Obama won reelection, El-Sayed, who said he had voted for him, accused the former president of failing to deliver the “hope and change” that defined his 2008 campaign.

“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,” he wrote. “I have little hope because there has been less change.”

“So let’s be clear, for progressives who care about peace, prosperity, civil liberties, and the future of our country, Obama’s reelection last night was no victory. It was the rock we chose over the hard place,” he added.

He went after Obama for expanding the war on te**or into Pakistan and Yemen, using drone strikes, and failing to address economic issues and growing inequality.

He also pointed to what he called a decline in civil liberties under Obama’s watch.

Abdul El-Sayed now welcomes Obama’s support

Despite his earlier comments, El-Sayed has often spoken warmly about Obama, praising him personally and saying the former president inspired his own political path.

In a statement to CNN, El-Sayed said Obama’s win in 2008 changed everything for people like him; it made things feel possible that hadn’t before, especially for someone with his background and name.

He credited Obama’s leadership and said now it’s on the next generation to pick up where Obama left off.

“At 24, I watched President Obama win in 2008. He changed what was possible for someone like me, with a name like mine. Despite being dealt one of the toughest hands of any American president, he handled it,” El-Sayed said. 

His campaign pushed back on the idea that his past criticism reflected a broader hostility toward Obama, providing numerous examples over the years in which El-Sayed praised him personally. 

Though he praised Obama for expanding perceptions of who could aspire to a career in politics, El-Sayed told Vox in 2017 that there were “a lot of things I disagree with President Obama on” in both domestic and foreign policy and described Obama’s politics as “fairly centrist, middle-of-the-road Democratic policies.”

Announcing the upcoming rally, El-Sayed wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "It is my honor and privilege to announce that President @BarackObama is joining us on the trail in Detroit on Saturday, October 24. Get. Ready."