2020: Team Obama Urging Deval Patrick to Run for POTUS

Former President Barack Obama and his inner circle are reportedly urging former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to run for president in 2020.

According to a Politico report, Obama’s top strategist and message guru David Axelrod, confidante Valerie Jarrett, David Simas, the CEO of Obama’s foundation and former Patrick deputy chief of staff, and Obama himself have all been encouraging the former Massachusetts governor to run.

“I’m trying to think about how to be helpful, because I care about the country, and I’m a patriot first. It’s way, way too soon to be making plans for 2020,” Patrick, whose name was floated as a potential Supreme Court pick during Obama’s time in office, told Politico’s “Off Message” podcast. “So I’ll just leave it at that.”

Patrick ironically works at Bain Capital, which Obama ruthlessly savaged in 2012 to cast Mitt Romney as a heartless and soulless corporate suit who put profits above the concerns of Americans who built the country. Many of those working-class voters who, because of Obama’s successful messaging, either voted for Obama or could not vote for Romney crossed over to vote for Trump in 2016.

Politico points out that at former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci’s SALT conference in May, “Robert Wolf, the banker and Democratic megadonor who’s a frequent Obama golf partner, was interviewing” Jarrett and “Jeb Bush on stage, and told them ahead of time he’d ask their picks for the 2020 Democratic nominee.” Bush reportedly picked former Vice President Joe Biden while Jarrett raised eyebrows by picking Patrick.

Patrick’s 2006 gubernatorial run was seen as a semi-test run for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. And during Obama’s 2008 run, Obama was accused of plagiarism when he gave a similar speech to Patrick’s 2006 “just words” speech. Though Axelrod strategized for both of them, Patrick spun for his good friend Obama, saying that he encouraged Obama to use the same arguments he did in his 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

“Don’t tell me words don’t matter,” Obama said in 2008 in the speech that prompted Hillary Clinton’s team to accuse Obama of lifting words from Patrick. “‘I have a dream.’ Just words? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’ Just words? ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words? Just speeches?”