Our betters in the MSM, and related ruling-class mouthpieces, have set the narrative:  the lackluster, too-crazy pack of Democrat presidential candidates, even with a few token billionaires, will ultimately give way to the entry of Michelle Obama into the race.  The former First Lady, author of an apparently best-selling memoir, will inject palpable blue energy throughout the nation, return black America to a 95% Democrat voting bloc, consolidate the Obama voting coalitions that won two presidential elections, and the evil interloper Trump will be sent packing.

Don’t buy this narrative.

In a country of 320 million people, there is always a sizable segment who will not be willing or able to discern or question anything beyond what they are told by the MSM, and will follow the narrative.  That segment is actually becoming smaller every year; the reality of fake news has diluted the MSM’s influence to a far greater degree than they understand.  But that’s not why I’m not buying the narrative.

Here’s why:

‘Obama’ is how we got Trump.  For all the gigabytes devoted to explaining how Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, the simplest two-word explanation has always been:  Barack Obama.   

Most Americans never agreed with the radical left-wing policies that President Obama instituted, nor did they appreciate his subtle, persistent denigration of America’s character, identity and place in the world. But Americans did salute to the notion that we should be especially careful not to criticize America’s first black President. 

In short, the absence of strong criticism of President Obama and his policies was not due to their popularity, but rather due to a surrender to the political reality enforced in great degree by the MSM that any such criticism would be labeled as racist.  His policies and view of America were in fact alarming to many Americans, who silently bided their time until he was out of office.

The truth is that Barack Obama was and is a radical leftist ideologue who in his own words sought to fundamentally transform America.   A few observers saw this agenda from the beginning of Obama’s appearance on the national scene, but they were voices in a wilderness dominated by a sycophantic media.  The American people never supported a fundamental transformation of their country -- in leftist terms, a shredding of America’s Judeo-Christian heritage in favor of a godless, George Soros-vision of an Open Society, directed and controlled by almighty secular government -- and the more they understood the truth of who Obama was and what he was trying to do, the angrier and more resentful they became. 

Donald Trump was the anti-Obama for one simple reason:  he loves America.

And so…the “Michelle Obama riding on the residual goodwill of the Obama name!” campaign narrative, doesn’t resonate.

‘Blexit’ is real.  Candace Owens deserves tremendous credit for branding and building the “Blexit” movement, and for devoting her amazing intelligence and energy to its articulate messages.  Yet well before Blexit was a thing, Donald Trump planted the seed with black Americans when he said in August 2016:  “What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump?”

Three-plus years later, with black unemployment the lowest in recorded history, polls that show roughly a third of likely voting black Americans supporting President Trump are not an accident or a fluke.  (And they may just mark the floor of his support in 2020.)  They reflect conscious recognition among black Americans of simple truths:  black lives generally did not get better under eight years of Obama; black lives generally have gotten much better under less than three years of President Trump. 

And so…the “Michelle Obama will bring back the good old days of black prosperity!” campaign narrative falls flat.

Barack Obama is the elephant in the room re Barr/Durham.  Of all the names that engaged Americans associate with the Russia Collusion hoax -- Brennan, Clapper, Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, Rosenstein, Simpson, Steele, etc. --  there is one that is going to loom larger and larger in public thought as the Horowitz IG report and Barr/Durham followup becomes public:  Barack Obama. 

Our own guess is that when the truth finally comes out, Americans across the political spectrum will be stunned at the level of criminality and corruption in the Obama administration.   It will shock the collective conscience of the nation that all of this was directed to brazenly and arrogantly overturning the will of the American people for the ugly but simple reason that Donald Trump was an outsider who threatened the Obama/leftist/globalist hold on power.   

If the Horowitz report and Barr/Durham follow-up reveals, as seems increasingly likely, the deliberate and nefarious concoction of the Russia Collusion Hoax by leaders in the CIA, FBI, and DoJ, the vast majority of Americans, including millions who have historically identified themselves politically as Democrats, will be fiercely offended at this historic, unconscionable abuse.  And who is at the top of all the plotting and scheming and lying and weaponization of government against the will of the people?  Barack Obama.

And so…the ”Michelle Obama will bring back the days of the scandal-free Obama administration!” campaign narrative reeks.

Michelle’s heart isn’t in it… and may not be a happy heart anyway.  Mrs. Obama is on record saying she has no interest in running, and of course, those words by themselves mean nothing as to whether she will enter the race.  But we think they do signal that at her core, her heart is not in it.  And ‘it’ refers to the pressure, the nastiness, the unrelenting spotlight, the every-word-and-every-smirk-on-video scrutiny of an American presidential race.

Michelle Obama’s eight years in a soft, adulatory spotlight as First Lady are not the same as the brass tacks rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign.  And even if the MSM did everything in its power to shield her (and it surely would), the MSM is not the gatekeeper it once was.   Plus, winners tend to be happy warriors.  There has always seemed to be an undercurrent of anger in Michelle Obama’s countenance, and if it ever flared on the campaign trail, she could quickly find herself in a big hole.  Anger doesn’t win elections.

Michelle Obama may or may not get into the race; it’s probably a 50/50 proposition at this point.  And if she does get in, she’ll have access to the best messaging talent the left can buy.   So she’d make waves for a while.  But soon enough, the reality of Barack Obama’s unpopularity, the reality of the criminal abuse by his administration in trying to frame and otherwise take down President Trump, and the reality of a booming economy helping all Americans, would take the air out of her balloon.  “Bring Back Barack” is not a winning campaign theme.  And if a tweet or two happened to get under her skin, the result could be ugly. 

“Michelle Obama for President” is not inevitable or invincible.

Eric Georgatos is a former corporate lawyer who operated the Brushfires of Freedom blog from 2008-2016 (a book of top postings from the blog is available at America, Can We Talk?).