Obama's influence shadows Democrats' race to 2028 (axios.com)

The Democratic Party is divided. But almost all Democratic voters still agree on one thing: They really like Barack Obama . Why it matters: Obama remains the most powerful and popular Democrat in America, with the ability to play kingmaker in the presidential election — if he chooses to. Driving the news: Obama's de facto leadership of the party has been on full display the past month. Most of the top Democrats eyeing runs for the White House in 2028, along with several up-and-coming leaders in the party, made the pilgrimage to Chicago on June 19 to celebrate the new Obama Presidential Center , where they waxed nostalgically about his presidency. California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters that he "literally started tearing up" as he toured the center. A June CNN poll found that 96% of Democrats have a favorable view of Obama. (Only 71% of Democrats said the same of Joe Biden.) A University of Massachusetts Lowell/YouGov poll had Obama more popular than pop star Taylor Swift. Several Democrats in tough primary races — including people who at times have had fraught relationships with Obama, such as Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz — regularly feature him in their ads, videos and website messages. Some prominent Democrats such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff even occasionally sound like Obama in their speaking cadence, with a building crescendo to an aspirational message. Between the lines: Obama is actively working to navigate the Democratic Party out of the Trump era, but prefers to exert his influence behind the scenes. "What I've tried to do is to move from player to coach," he told ABC News last month. He frequently is a sounding board for potential 2028 candidates, as he was in the run-up to the 2020 election. "I strongly believe that my highest and best use now is to help find the next set of leaders who are going to move us forward," he told the New Yorker . He added that "the very best leaders can tap into the zeitgeist of the moment." As part of that effort, he recently appeared with young, rising stars, including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Obama also often subtly weighs in on tactics and policies when he thinks Democrats aren't moving in the right direction. He's been hitting the phones to help come up with an artificial intelligence policy that's not "simply a knee-jerk 'Screw the billionaires in tech,' because the genie's out of the bottle," he told the New Yorker. "If we do not have an agenda for that, then I think some of the populist impulses that have been there already can go in all kinds of stray directions," he said. Flashback: Obama has been a critical figure in determining each Democratic nominee since his presidency. In 2016, his clear preference for Hillary Clinton to be his successor made it difficult for him to unite the party after the divisive primary — which ultimately hurt Clinton in the gene