Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is right about one thing: Former President Obama is a fraud.

His promise of “hope and change” was just cleverly packaged pablum, the progressive congresswoman said in an interview with Politico.

I agree! Obama certainly wasn't the progressive savior he claimed to be when he first ran for president in 2008. Indeed, between his commitment to America’s “forever wars,” his cozy relationship with Big Tech, and his easily made peace with money in politics, Obama was as establishment as any other president in American history.

But to hear a Democratic freshman congresswoman say it in slightly different terms is really something else.

Politico reports:



As the Somali population in her city continued to swell, so did the young activist’s discontent. By the time she ran for office in 2016, knocking off a 22-term incumbent to win a seat in the Minnesota statehouse, Omar was fed up—not so much with Trumpism, or with politics in general, as with the Democratic Party.



As she saw it, the party ostensibly committed to progressive values had become complicit in perpetuating the status quo. Omar says the “hope and change” offered by Barack Obama was a mirage. Recalling the “caging of kids” at the U.S.-Mexico border and the “droning of countries around the world” on Obama’s watch, she argues that the Democratic president operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor.



“We can’t be only upset with Trump. … His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was,” Omar says. “And that’s not what we should be looking for anymore. We don’t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile.”



As it turns out, a protracted, legally dubious drone war in Somalia might not sit well with a Somali immigrant to the U.S. Who knew?

Omar also raises a good point about federal immigration policy during the Obama years. Namely, that there isn't a lot of difference between what we have now and what we had then. Honestly, the most interesting thing about the congresswoman highlighting this point on immigration is the number of people who decry current policy without realizing many of the same practices they oppose are also holdovers from previous administrations.

I always thought there would come a moment when Obama’s gutting of the Democratic Party during his two terms in office would eventually generate friendly fire. I also thought there would come a time when his record as an establishment president would come under serious left-wing scrutiny. I just didn’t think it would happen so soon after he left office.

What’s interesting here is that the congresswoman’s remarks to Politico stand in stark contrast to her pre-election praise for Obama. I guess it’s easier to speak one’s mind after winning office. Omar is likely feeling even more empowered following the political victory she scored this week against her party leaders, having avoided any consequences for her open expressions of anti-Semitism. She's on a roll because Democratic leaders are scared to death of her and her progressive fanbase.

Keep an eye now on how Omar’s Democratic colleagues react to Politico interview. I suspect she is not alone in being disenchanted with Obama, even to the point of anger. I suspect there are more like her in the Democratic Party, and I suspect they will make themselves heard as they grow in numbers, confidence, and influence.

This day was coming for the Obama wing of the Democratic Party. It was only a matter of time.

If you promise your followers the moon and the stars, they’re going to be a little miffed when you fail to deliver. Worse yet, if you tell them you’re the messiah, they’re going to be awfully angry when they figure out you aren’t.