Abdul El-Sayed Doubled Down on Obama Daddy Remarks as Obama Cuts a New Ad Despite Past Comments

A decade ago, Abdul El-Sayed had plenty to say about Barack Obama.

Obama just cut a brand new ad about him.

Asked about it on live television, El-Sayed pivoted back to the “dad” card for a second time.

El-Sayed Called Obama's Presidency a Failure Long Before He Needed Obama's Help

Kristen Welker pressed El-Sayed on Meet the Press about a 2012 essay where he wrote that Obama "was not the right choice."

El-Sayed did not defend the record.

He asked Welker a question instead: were her parents still living?

When she said yes, he said, "I wouldn't have my life but for my dad's efforts. At the same time, there's a lot of things about my dad I would do differently, right?"

He called Obama "a really capable leader" and "handed a really difficult set of circumstances."

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Days earlier, in an Instagram video, he used the same line: "Do you love your dad? Do you agree with everything your dad has ever done?"

Twice in one week, when someone asked him to account for calling Obama a failure, he answered by comparing Obama to a parent instead – and coming from a man who called Obama a failure for a decade, that comparison is its own kind of confession.

The dodge was supposed to make the question go away.

Instead, it just sent people looking up exactly what he said the first time, and it was worse than anyone remembered.

Back in 2012, after Obama won a second term, El-Sayed wrote that he had voted for him out of "the silly emotions of a naive young man."

He said the reelection "was no victory," accusing Obama of having "perpetuated war, violated our civil liberties," and having "deported more people from our shores than any other president before him."

A 2020 video shows El-Sayed arguing the country was worse off after Obama left office, with former Senator Heidi Heitkamp pushing back on him in the same clip.

None of that stopped Obama from agreeing to campaign for El-Sayed in Detroit on October 24, or from cutting a campaign ad that puts El-Sayed in a white coat and calls him a "doctor," even though he reportedly has never been licensed to practice medicine.

El-Sayed said Obama "showed me something in myself I might never have seen without him," and called himself "humbled to have his support in this fight."

He said the Affordable Care Act "will have laid the groundwork for guaranteed healthcare," and that he was ready to "pick up his baton and finally pass Medicare for All."

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He described his earlier call with Obama as "warm and inspiring."

Mike Rogers Already Has This Exact Clip Ready to Use

Republican Mike Rogers does not have to dig for ammunition here.

El-Sayed's words from 2012 and 2020 are already on video, in his voice, with his name attached.

The Democrats For Mike Rogers account – and whoever the Rogers staffer behind that is should be fired – posted that El-Sayed wants voters to forget what he said about Obama for a decade.

The day after El-Sayed's primary win, Rogers went courting Democrats who feel abandoned by their nominee, pitching housing and tax relief straight at grandparents, young people, and working families.

He also described El-Sayed's campaign as "a campaign filled with anger, divisiveness, calls for violence."

A Fox News poll has this race at 50 percent for El-Sayed and 49 percent for Rogers, inside the margin of error, in a state Trump carried in 2024.

That margin is exactly why El-Sayed needs Obama more than Obama needs him.

The Medicare for All Line Obama Never Signed Up For

Obama built his entire post-presidency brand on defending the Affordable Care Act as the finished product, not a stepping stone.

El-Sayed just stood next to that legacy and told Michigan voters the law never finished the job.

It is a neat trick if nobody checks the tape, and in Michigan this year, plenty of people are checking the tape.

El-Sayed built his reputation on being the guy willing to say Obama failed.

He is now betting that the same voters who liked that honesty will not mind watching him stand next to Obama and call it an honor.

Rogers is betting they will.

Obama's team would not put him on camera for a candidate who might embarrass him on stage weeks later.

That means someone on El-Sayed's side made the case that the 2012 and 2020 comments would not matter.

Michigan voters get to decide if that bet was right on November 3.

Sources:

• Nick Arama, "Hilarious: El-Sayed Desperately Spins Prior Remarks About Obama, as Former President Cuts Ad for Him," RedState, October 12, 2026.
• Daily Wire, "Democrats Turn to Obama to Prop Up a Controversial Nominee," Daily Wire, 2026.
• Daily Wire, "El-Sayed Compares Obama to His Father After Complaining About 'His Failures,'" Daily Wire, October 11, 2026.
• Washington Examiner, "El Sayed Hails Inspiring Call With Obama, Hopes Former President Hits Campaign Trail," Washington Examiner, August 9, 2026.