Barack Obama just endorsed the Democrat Party’s hard left turn.
What came out of Obama’s mouth should terrify every American.
And Fox News contributor Joe Concha had a response that Obama probably didn’t see coming.
Obama Heaps Praise on NYC’s Socialist Mayor
The interview took place at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, the same library that is behind schedule, over budget, and still burning through donor cash at a jaw-dropping rate. But Obama wasn’t there to answer for any of that.
Colbert set up the question by rattling off the Democrat Party’s internal tug-of-war. “So you have great leaders. You have people like (Virginia Governor) Abigail Spanberger and (New Jersey Governor) Mikie Sherrill, very centrist. But then you have further left, like AOC and Zohran Mamdani,” Colbert said, drawing cheers from his audience after name-dropping the self-described democratic socialists.
Obama waved off any concern. “I’m not so worried about this so-called rift between the left and liberals, as you described it,” he told Colbert.
Then came the full embrace of New York City’s new socialist mayor. “You look at somebody like Mamdani, who I think is an extraordinary talent,” Obama said. “He wants people to be able to afford housing in New York. Well, you know, I would assume liberals in New York want the same thing.”
Colbert jumped right in to pile on. “I think that’s one of the powers that Mamdani has,” Colbert interjected. “Not only does he talk like a normal person, but he lives a normal life, but also, he names what is obviously wrong.”
“Yes!” Obama exclaimed. “And not have a bunch of gobbledygook around it… Just talk like normal people talk.”
The audience loved it. The media loved it. And nobody on that stage bothered to ask who’s going to pay for any of it.
Who Exactly Is Zohran Mamdani?
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ran for office as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Mamdami’s scheming to impose a socialist wish list including a $30-an-hour minimum wage by 2030, Soviet-style city-owned grocery stores in every borough, a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments, and “free” bus service across the city. He quoted the famous American socialist Eugene Debs in his victory speech.
“I don’t think we should have billionaires,” Mamdani ranted to reporters.
But it gets worse. While New York City faces a $5.4 billion budget deficit, Mamdani’s administration set aside $500,000 for community discussions on reparations for Black New Yorkers. He has not proposed service cuts to deal with the shortfall. Instead, he reached into the city’s emergency cash reserves while boosting funding for racial equity programs.
U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon called the mayor’s race-based policies “fishy/illegal” and pledged to investigate.
And Obama thinks this guy is an “extraordinary talent.”
Concha Delivers the Brutal Truth Obama Didn’t Want to Hear
Fox News contributor Joe Concha went on Fox & Friends First Wednesday morning and said what the Late Show audience never got to hear.
“Colbert says, ‘He names what’s wrong,'” Concha said. “Yeah, I guess Mamdani does that, but he doesn’t know how to fix what’s wrong. That’s a big, big problem.”
Concha didn’t stop there. “The discussion never broached how the New York mayor promised a bunch of stuff he didn’t know how to pay for,” he said. “Mamdani is all foam and no beer. It’s sizzle over steak.”
That’s a pretty fair summary of what happened Tuesday night. Two men who have never had to run a business, balance a city budget, or live under the policies they promote sat in a beautiful new presidential center and cheered on a mayor who is spending money New York City doesn’t have.
Concha also took a swing at the idea of Colbert running for president, which Colbert floated during the interview. “He would have to leave his safe space, and he actually would have to make arguments without having 200 staffers do the thinking for him,” Concha said.
Obama Plays the “Plain English” Card While Pushing Socialism
The most revealing part of the whole interview was Obama’s argument that the Democrat Party’s real problem isn’t ideology. It’s communication. “I’m more interested in for Democrats is — do you know to just talk to regular people like we’re not in a college seminar, right?” he told Colbert.
But there’s a problem with that spin. Talking like a regular person and governing like a socialist are two completely different things. Mamdani may skip the academic jargon, but his policy agenda, government-run grocery stores, rent freezes, reparations spending during a budget crisis, and a $30 minimum wage, is about as far from regular American life as you can get.
Obama also brushed off the idea that there’s any real tension inside the Democrat Party. “Because I think that within the Democratic Party and I would argue a bunch of independents and even some Republicans as well, there’s an overarching belief in equality, fairness, if you work then you should be able to make a living wage and support a family and retire with dignity,” he told Colbert. “There are a bunch of things that we agree on. And it’s really more of a question of, what are the specific things that we have to do.”
That’s a smooth answer. It’s also a dodge. The “specific things” Obama glosses over include defunding police, city-owned businesses, reparations, and tax hikes that would drive what’s left of New York’s middle class straight to Florida.
This Is Where the Democrat Party Is Headed
Obama visited Mamdani in person back in April, joining him at a child care center in the Bronx where the two read to preschoolers and led a singalong of “Wheels on the Bus.” It was good television. But Obama calling Mamdani an “extraordinary talent” on national TV the same week Mamdani is allocating half a million dollars for reparations talks while the city bleeds red ink tells you everything about where the Democrat Party’s leadership class wants to go.
After losing the 2024 election, Democrats paid lip service to pivoting towards the center. But when push came to shove, the base demanded Democrats pledge fealty to socialism.
And now the man Democrats still treat as their party’s elder statesman just gave his blessing to a democratic socialist who quoted Eugene Debs at his own victory party. Voters outside of New York City should probably pay attention to that.
Sources: Fox News, “Obama, Colbert praise Zohran Mamdani as they discuss Democratic Party’s future,” May 6, 2026; Fox News, “Mamdani allocates $500K for reparations talks as NYC faces $5.4B deficit”; Washington Examiner, “‘Mamdani is all foam and no beer’: Joe Concha,” May 6, 2026; Wikipedia, “Zohran Mamdani”; PBS NewsHour, “Obama and Mamdani meet for the first time,” April 2026.