Former President Barack Obama this week inserted himself into the national debate over partisan gerrymandering with his proprietary blend of self-righteousness, self-interest and duplicity.
With Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pushing through a new congressional map to benefit Republicans and California Gov. Gavin Newsom seeking to do the same for Democrats, Obama lent a weary world his wisdom.
“Over the long term, we shouldn’t have political gerrymandering in America, just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas,” he began in a Wednesday post on X.
“But,” he stipulated.
But of course.
“Since Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Gov. [Gavin] Newsom has approached this,” insisted Obama.
“He’s put forward a smart, measured approach in California, designed to address a very particular problem at a very particular moment in time.”
Who didn’t see that one coming?
Obama’s high opinion of himself has only ever been matched by his scorn for the masses.
He hopes no one will notice his blatant projection: Obama himself personally participated, to put it lightly, in a highly beneficial gerrymander over 20 years ago.
Without a doubt, the former president’s initial suggestion has merit.
It would be wonderful if House districts were drawn so as to be maximally representative of discrete communities, and to keep representatives maximally attuned to their constituents’ interests.
Perhaps one day the two parties will come together to ensure as much.
Alas, that’s not the world we live in today.
As it stands, both sides are locked in an unforgiving battle to enshrine the most structurally advantageous maps into law in as many states as possible.
In Illinois, where Texas Democrats initially fled to deny Abbott the quorum needed to pass his new map, Democrats represent 14 of 17 districts, or more than 82% of the state.
Yet Kamala Harris won Illinois last year by fewer than 11 percentage points, 54.4% to 43.5%.
Democrats achieved this feat by creating a map so preposterous that even Stephen Colbert felt compelled to ask Prairie State Gov. JB Pritzker about it during an otherwise softball interview.
In New Jersey, where President Donald Trump won 46% of the vote in 2024, the GOP holds just 25% of the congressional seats.
Hellbound and Down 