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Former President Barack Obama wants to save Democrats from a crushing midterm defeat by appearing on TikTok with some “painfully” nerdy dad jokes, critics said Wednesday.
Obama took to the normally young-and-hip social media platform to urge viewers to vote on “Under The Desk News,” which offers Gen Z-ers quick takes on current events.
In the sketch, the former leader of the free world sits under a desk with the host, Vitus Spehar, and urges the TikTok star to come out and cast a ballot.
“Here’s the thing: you can stay [under the desk] for now, but when it comes time for voting you’re going to have to get up,” Obama says in the video, posted Tuesday.
“You got climate change legislation on the ballot, you got gun safety. And, when we can elect more pro-choice members of Congress, we can re-institute [sic] Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.”
Spehar then asks, “Is now a bad time to say that I voted for McCain in 2008?”
“Mmm… as long as you voted,” Obama replies with a grin.
Obama was roundly mocked as desperate by conservatives and tastemakers online Wednesday for appearing in the video.
“Obama has officially joined in the Democrats’ new fool-proof plan for whenever they need to push an agenda Collaborating with TikTokers…Collaborating with TikTokers,” Libs of TikTok tweeted.
Others said his one-liners simply didn’t land.
“Ooof this is painful,” tweeted Andrew Gruel, a Food Network judge.
Stephen Miller, a contributing editor at The Spectator, joked that the ex-president’s performance was so bad it ought to be outlawed.
“Obama is participating on TikTok, a legitimate national security threat,” he wrote.
The video had raked in 1.4 million views on TikTok by Wednesday afternoon.