Kamala Harris for President: As Obama remains silent, aide highlights his favourite quote is, ‘I don’t want to…'
Former President Barack Obama's hesitance to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris can also be traced back to a complex web of political history.
Kamala Harris is soon garnering Democrats' support in her bid to be the 47th president of United States of America. The stakes are high, not just for her but also for her party that forced Joe Biden out of the tough fight against Donald Trump. But that one endorsement and the most important one that she has been waiting for is Barack Obama. He pitched for Biden to step down but didn't go all out to ‘coronate’ Kamala Harris, the most eligible contest in the party.
Why is Barack Obama not endorsing Kamala Harris?
That's a question on everyone's mind. Republicans are interpreting it as a snub whereas Obama's close aides claim he wants a democratic nomination process to be followed such that Kamala doesn't have to bear the burden of a favourable pick who wasn't elected with a consensus. In an NY Times report an undisclosed source claimed, "he is an impartial elder statesman above intra-party machinations, said not to read too much into it — and had no alternate candidate in mind
In previous election too, Obama didn't endorse Biden unless Bernie Sanders was in the race. Report claims his favoured quote is , “I don’t want to thumb the scale.” For him an early endorsement is a political mistake and may fuel criticism that Harris’s nomination was a rather coronation than the best possible consensus under rushed circumstances.
Republicans have already started questioning Kamala Harris' wild card entry into the US elections with the voting due in a couple of months. During an election rally Trump's running mate JD Vance stated, “The idea of selecting the Democrat party's nominee because George Soros and Barack Obama and a couple of elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard, that is the threat to democracy.”
NY Times also quoted a person familiar with Obama's thinking, instead, Mr. Obama sees his role as helping to quickly “unite the party once we have a nominee,”
Former President Barack Obama's hesitance to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris can also be traced back to a complex web of political history and personal dynamics. Report suggests that President Joe Biden's lingering sense of disappointment towards Obama for quietly supporting Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign plays a pivotal role in this decision. Biden, known for his strong sense of pride, still harbors the belief that he could have emerged victorious against Donald J. Trump in 2016 if given the opportunity, feeling that Obama's backing of Clinton may have impacted the outcome.
A former White House official, who maintains regular communication with Obama, shared that the former president is deliberate in his actions and does not feel pressured to make a swift endorsement. This deliberate approach underscores Obama's intention to prioritize Biden's moment and ensure that any endorsement aligns with his broader political strategy.