Former President Barack Obama has stayed relatively quiet since ceding the White House to President Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still working to further the agenda of the progressive left.
According to a report from Fox News, Obama is teaming up with his former “wingman” attorney general, the contemptible Eric Holder, to launch a nationwide campaign aimed at combating “partisan gerrymandering,” the practice of drawing congressional district lines in ways that favor one political party over the other.
Obama and Holder, together again
Titled “All On The Line,” the campaign won’t be focused solely on gerrymandered congressional districts. It will also tackle other issues high on Obama’s agenda, including expanding voting rights, reducing gun violence and protecting the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
In a statement about the impending campaign, Holder said, “For too long, politicians have been able to pick their voters, instead of allowing voters to choose their representatives.”
“Gerrymandering rigs our elections so the party in power can’t lose and it moves our policy debates away from rational solutions to the extremes,” he continued. “Our mission is to restore fairness to our democracy and ensure every American has an equal say in our government.”
The former attorney general added, “There is not a moment to waste. With the census in 2020 and redistricting in 2021, we have to start building our movement now.”
Gerrymandering is a bipartisan problem
Interestingly, the announcement of an Obama-Holder team comes as Holder considers whether or not to toss his own hat into the already crowded field of Democratic 2020 presidential contenders. It isn’t out of the question to wonder whether Holder might attempt to use the attention garnered by his gerrymandering campaign to try and get a leg up on the rest of the field.
As of now, however, Holder appears focused on the fight over gerrymandering from his position as chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which claims to be working to fix the “rigged” redistricting system in a more fair and just manner … or in reality, stop Republican attempts to redraw congressional districts while allowing Democrats to continue doing so.
With some $16 million in funding so far, the committee aims to “target races and ballot initiatives in 12 states that would give Democrats an opportunity to create more favorable district maps after the 2020 census,” NBC News reported.
Supreme Court to weigh in
Meanwhile, Fox News also noted that the Supreme Court will soon delve into partisan redistricting as well. The court will hear arguments in March on two gerrymandering cases, one out of North Carolina aimed at redistricting favorable to Republicans, and another out of Maryland challenging Democratic-favorable redistricting.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the justices will actually attempt to intervene and set nonpartisan guidelines for state redistricting, or will merely decide that such matters are not in the purview of the federal judiciary, but are solely individual state matters.
As for Obama and Holder, it goes without saying that they aren’t interested in “restoring fairness” nearly as much as they are in restoring power to Democrats.