Even after decimating Democratic state legislators while in office and setting up his own party to lose the White House to Donald Trump, the myth of a unifying Barack Obama has persisted. Sure, he remains an undeniably formidable figurehead and fundraiser. While the Democratic Party struggles to find a new leader, he and the persistently popular Michelle Obama make telegenic godparents for the party. But getting into the mud with politics as dirty as these was never the strong suit of the wily and covert brute force of Obama.

Consider, of the three competitive races that Obama re-emerged from (quasi) private life to try and whip, all three lost.