Dom

He has that Obama elocution.

A reporter tried to trap Abdul El-Sayed on camera over something he wrote back in 2012, and he got out of it by asking the reporter one question about his own dad. You can steal this move for pretty much any argument where someone's trying to box you in. Here's what happened. El-Sayed was running for Senate in Michigan, and Barack Obama was about to fly into Detroit to campaign for him. The awkward part is that El-Sayed spent years criticizing Obama, including a 2012 essay saying Obama wasn't the right choice. So as he's walking away from the podium, a reporter calls out the obvious question. You've criticized Obama before, so why is he campaigning for you? Think about how nasty that question is. If he says the old essay was wrong, he looks like a guy who'll say anything to land a famous endorsement. If he stands by it, he's trashing the former president who's about to show up and help him win. There's no good answer, and that's the whole reason you ask it. So he turns around, walks back to the mic, points at the guy, and asks him whether he loves his dad and agrees with everything his dad has ever done. The reporter says "Not entirely." Once he said that out loud, it was basically over. The reporter had just admitted he loves his own father and still disagrees with some of what he's done, which is exactly what El-Sayed was being accused of doing with Obama. It works for reasons that go deeper than it looks. Trial lawyers get taught to never ask a witness a question unless they already know the answer. El-Sayed asked one where he knew the answer for sure, because nobody on earth agrees with everything their dad ever did. And people really hate contradicting something they said out loud a minute ago. Psychologists have studied that urge to stay consistent for decades. So the reporter couldn't push back without arguing against himself. Then El-Sayed used the rest of his time to tell his own story. He talked about watching Obama speak at the 2004 convention when he was about 20, and how it was the first time he'd ever seen himself in a politician. Both of their dads came over from Africa, and as he put it, they both got stuck with a funny name. A question meant to make him look fake turned into a free minute to tell voters who he is. He was also solving a much harder problem with that answer. El-Sayed needed two groups of voters who don't see Obama the same way. A lot of his progressive supporters are still angry about the deportations and the wars under Obama, and El-Sayed used to say so himself. Meanwhile, the Detroit voters any Michigan Democrat needs still love the man. Any answer that sided with one group was going to cost him the other. Talking about his dad let him keep both, because everybody knows what it's like to love someone and still be frustrated with them. He won last night, by the way. He's the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate. So next time someone hits you with a question where both answers make you look bad, try finding the version of it they've lived through themselves, and ask them about that instead.

Oh, I am so delighted for him. Fully deserved🏆❤️