Barack Obama and Zohran Mamdani may represent different generations and political climates, but their ideological similarities are striking. Obama embraced a strategy of stealth socialism, while Mamdani champions open socialism. Understanding their trajectories reveals the transformation of American politics over the past two decades.
Those familiar with Barack Obama’s background recognize his ideological roots in radical socialism and Marxist thought. In my 2012 film Dreams from My Real Father, I presented evidence that Obama was radicalized and likely fathered by Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party USA member who raised Obama during his formative years in Hawaii.
When Obama emerged on the national stage in 2007, he masked his socialist ideology. Aware that open socialism would doom his presidential ambitions, he ran as a mainstream candidate.
Obama pledged to uphold the Constitution, supported traditional marriage, and claimed solidarity with Israel.
Yet, Obama’s true convictions would occasionally surface spontaneously, most notably when he spoke of “spreading the wealth around,” proposed a “civilian national security force,” and declared “we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America”.
Once in office, Obama threw his voters under to bus to pursue his socialist agenda that no one voted for.
Enter Zohran Mamdani, a result of a Democrat party political era shaped for years by Barack Obama. At the 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference, he stated, “The purpose of this entire project is not simply to raise class consciousness, but to win socialism… and elect leaders who are unapologetic about our socialism.” Today, unlike Obama, Mamdani feels no need to conceal his socialist ideology.
Let’s look at the many parallels shared by Obama and Mamdani.