El-Sayeds scathing Obama critique resurfaces ahead of joint campaign rally

Abdul El-Sayed once accused President Barack Obama of failing to deliver on the progressive campaign promises that he outlined in the 2008 presidential campaign, calling his election to a second term a kind of compromise for progressives.

"I realize that I have little hope because there has been less change," El-Sayed wrote in a 2012 op-ed for HuffPost.

"But I have to say now what Ive been holding in throughout his campaign and what I think all of us have to admit: Obama was not the right choice — he just wasnt the wrong one."

The resurfaced comments, published just days after the 2012 presidential election, complicate the political picture for El-Sayed as he prepares to campaign with Obama later this month. The comments also raise questions about what El-Sayeds ideals for the Democratic Party would have looked like in 2012, highlighting his past satisfaction with one of the Democratic Party's most prominent figures.

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In particular, El-Sayeds 2012 op-ed criticized Obamas international record and strikes on Pakistan and Yemen, an underperforming economy and, in his view, little to no change in being accepted as a Muslim American.

"I feel no more dignified, no more accepted as cops throughout the country have usurped my right to walk the streets freely without fearing unjustified interference. Inequality has accelerated and the divide between the haves and have-nots in our country has never been starker," El-Sayed wrote.

"At home our economy continues to stagnate; its victims are so many of my peers who had also invested in hope and change four years ago, who cannot find meaningful work."

Notably, he did confirm that he had voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.

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He also asserted that Obamas record, as disappointing as it had seemed to him, was still better than the outlook of the failed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Even so, El-Sayed said Obama fell short of the ideal he, as a progressive, would have chosen for the country.

"We really like the idea of Obama… lets be clear, for progressives who care about peace, prosperity, civil liberties and the future of our country, Obama reelection last night was no victory. It was the rock we chose over the hard place," El-Sayed wrote.

In recent months, as El-Sayed waged his Senate campaign in Michigan, Obama did not endorse the progressive, staying out of a primary between him and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.

Like Obama and other Democrats, El-Sayed has championed the growth of government as a way to address the countrys top issues. In addition to calling for lowering housing costs, hes advocated for

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