Friends who are frustrated by the White House regime ask me, “Where is Barack Obama?” As if the former president might arise again in the political skies to save the day. Dream on, I point out. Having served two full terms, Obama has maxed out of his constitutional eligibility.

But, behind the scenes, he has found more to do than, say, add to the rising outrage over President Donald Trump’s demolition of the East Wing of the White House.

Obama has lent his support to a plan to counteract Trump’s effort to lock in a Republican majority in the House of Representatives through gerrymandering. Unfortunately, that effort looks a lot like gerrymandering itself.

Republicans in several states, at Trump’s urging, have set about an unprecedented mid-decade wave of redistricting. Trump has accurately intuited that the thin GOP majority in the House is in peril thanks to his highly polarizing policies. To help extend Trump’s absolute control of the U.S. government, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott convened a special session of the state legislature to redraw Texas districts in a way that is likely to deliver five more Republicans to Congress.

In late July, Obama spoke with his former attorney general, Eric Holder, about a response. Both men have supported independent commissions to draw districts free of gerrymandering.

According to the Washington Post, Obama and Holder concluded that those aspirations would have to be put on hold as the Democrats fight fire with fire.

At about the same time, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, met with legal experts to explore his state’s options, including how to work around a constitutional requirement of nonpartisan redistricting without looking too hypocritical.

It’s easy for wags on the other side of the partisan divide to call out Newsom, Holder and Obama for abandoning their high ideals, but at this point to stick to apolitical redistricting in blue states looks a lot like unilateral disarmament.

By mid-August, Obama had become a national advocate for Democrats taking up the redistricting fight. When Texas Republicans threatened to arrest the dissident lawmakers and remove them from office, Obama called in to one of the Democrats’ meetings in Illinois to lend support.

A few days later, Obama gave his full-throated endorsement of the California proposal.

Obama also filmed an ad for Prop 50, Newsom’s redistricting ballot initiative, aimed at motivating Democrats and independents.

The ad also featured images of Trump and National Guard and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in U.S. cities.

“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” says the narration. “With Prop 50, you can stop Republicans in their tracks.”

Efforts to redraw U.S. House districts for partisan advantage have been taken up in Republican-led Missouri, where the legislature approved revised districts but the changes are being contested, and officials in more states are considering following suit.

Obama is doing his part for his party as it struggles to unify itself after its devastating defeat by Trump’s well-oiled machine. That machine operates at an astonishing scale of thoroughgoing corruption and coercion. The United States government is in desperate need of reform. The question is whether the Democrats, in their post-Biden funk, are able to sell the American electorate on the proposition that they can deliver it.

Obama knows a thing or two about overcoming corrupt political machines. He can help Democrats make a convincing case.