CNN, NBC, MSNBC panels question Obama's last-minute campaign efforts: 'Joe Biden can't be out there'

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CNN, NBC, MSNBC panelists weigh impact former President Obama will have on midterms

Media figures weighed in on former President Barack Obama hitting the campaign trail over the weekend during multiple appearances on the Sunday news programs. 

CNN, NBC and MSNBC panelists discussed on Sunday whether having former President Obama out on the campaign trail was going to help Democrats in the midterms. 

CNN's Scott Jennings joked that they got "amazing results" when Obama was involved in the 2010 and 2014 midterms during CNN's "State of the Union."

"I think the fact he’s out there also tells you what we know about the election. Joe Biden can’t be out there. So this is the only person they can put out. Democrats have bet everything on abortion, everything. And with nine days to go, it’s Social Security, it’s Medicare, it’s fear, it's — and finally it’s we made a huge mess, and what are you going to do to clean it up? It’s too late. It’s not going to work," Jennings said. 

Former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign Karen Finney argued Obama was successful in the 2018 midterms and said that no Democratic candidate was running only on abortion. 

Former President Obama waves to the crowd after casting his ballot at an early voting site, Oct. 17, 2022, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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"I think Obama being out there in places that Biden cannot go, Georgia, Nevada, the two most obvious examples, it does say a lot about Democrats, sort of where the party is today, right? But Biden was essentially an emergency nominee in 2020, because the entire criteria of the party, who can beat Trump, and he was obviously the answer. But there was not a lot of thought given to longer term planning, so they now have a near 80-year-old incumbent president, and they’re relying on somebody who was last on the ballot a decade ago to come in as their closer in the midterms. It tells you a lot about where things are," the New York Times' Jonathan Martin said during CNN's "Inside Politics."  

NBC's "Meet the Press" host asked NBC News contributor Kimberly Atkins Stohr what she thought of the former president's campaign efforts and said that Obama could be the one Democrat who could help fire up the base. 

"The Democrats hope that he’s the closer. I mean I talked to two people yesterday just in regular conversations, like, you know. Barack Obama is so good at this. I think that’s what they’re counting on, especially for that youth vote," she said.

Other Democrats and media figures praised the former president's last-minute effort to help reach Democratic voters. 

Former President Obama stands with gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Sen. Raphael Warnock during a campaign rally Friday, Oct. 28, 2022, in College Park, Georgia. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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During MSNBC's "The Sunday Show," Cornel Belcher, a Democratic pollster and strategist, told host Jonathan Capehart that Obama is a "unique political figure." Obama appeared in Georgia on Friday alongside Sen. Raphael Warnock and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. 

"He is a unique political figure. He is a once in a lifetime sort of political figure and a movement. When you think about some of those young people, look Obama doesn’t become president if 11% of the electorate in the 2008 are new to the process, right? We built that. They were disproportionately young people, and what are disproportionately young people? They're diverse. He energizes young voters," he said. 

Yamiche Alcindor said during an MSNBC appearance on Sunday that Obama is more popular than President Biden and that the Democratic Party wants him out there. 

"So I think you also have both the fact that he's popular and the fact that he has some experience, he knows what is to be a president, when you cannot pass legislation only by executive order. So in some ways it tells you that Democrats understand the issues at hand," she said. "I think it just tells you that Obama has a little bit of swagger, and that is what they want to see Democrats out there to motivate people."

Former President Obama and President Biden arrive at a ceremony to unveil the official Obama White House portraits at the White House on Sept. 7, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Former Democratic congresswoman Donna Edwards told Capehart that Obama is the best person to put out on the trail. 

"The former president was in his element. He has the ability, both to communicate a message, to talk to people in a language that they understand, to make them laugh. And then to excite them. Those are all the things that Democrats need to make sure the democratic voters show up in the polls, and that they vote," she said. "I think Democrats are right, you put your best team on the field, and President Obama is the best team." 

Capehart asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the beginning of his show about why Obama was out in Wisconsin campaigning for Mandela Barnes and Gov. Tony Evers and the president was not. 

Former President Obama speaks about the Affordable Care Act and lowering health care costs in the East Room of the White House on April 5, 2022. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Jean-Pierre said she disagreed with Capehart's "characterization." 

"The president has been talking about this almost every day for months now," Jean-Pierre said. "He's been talking about the choices that are at stake here."