The Obamas Endorse Harris: 'This Is Going to Be Historic'
The former president and first lady threw their weight behind the presumptive Democratic nominee
Barack and Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president, sharing the news in a joint phone call.
A video released by the campaign suggests the former president and first lady called Harris on Thursday while the vice president was in Houston, where she addressed the American Federation of Teachers and received a briefing on recovery efforts following Hurricane Beryl.
“We called to say, Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Barack Obama is heard telling Harris in a 55-second video of the call.
“This is going to be historic,” Michelle Obama tells Harris.
Biden couldn't handle a primary run in 2008, but he killed in 2020.
Times change. Circumstances change. People change. And if the enthusiasm that has come out over the past week, both from her and from the party base, is any indication, Harris in 2024 is in a much better place than she was in 2020.
Honestly, after his failed 1987 primary challenge, I'm surprised he ever got back on his feet in terms of politics at all.
He plagiarized a speech by a British politician and got caught, he was involved in a scandal involving his law school grades and he lied about his participation in the civil rights movement (or at least greatly exaggerated it).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_1988_presidential_campaign#Summer_1987
On top of that, after dropping out, he had two brain aneurysms.
It's pretty amazing he got elected president in 2020.
Biden didn't kill it in 2020. Bernie won the first few states, so the DNC freaked out and pushed the other candidates to drop out and endorse Joe. After that, the media lined up to declare him the presumptive nominee. The DNC hates progressives.
Kamala was a better speaker than Joe in 2020. Her comments about being one of the black kids on the busses aimed at Biden was accurate and scathing. But she followed the party mandate and bowed out.
Why is everyone's memory so short about these things?
She's a far sight better than Trump or Biden.
Bernie won a couple states that never help determine the election. Then Biden won by a lot in swing states. If Bernie won swing states it would be different. He didn't. His appeal isn't and wasn't as good in the specific places the Presidency is won.
It sucks because I picked him in both primaries. But the reality is Biden had broader appeal where it mattered. Any Dem candidate is going get 170 EC votes along the coasts. It's between the coasts where the election is won. And Biden did better in all those places.
To my point, he was doing better until the others started to drop out. But that's all academic now. My opinion hardly matters, but I stand by my belief that the DNC hates progressive politics and would rather lose than support a populist progressive.
Kamala is apparently more progressive than we knew, her voting record was pretty close to Bernie's in the Senate. By being the vp and then Biden dropping out we seem to have gotten a more prog candidate than we could have otherwise?
Pete won Iowa, Bernie won New Hampshire and Nevada. Everyone (6 total candidates) was still in for South Carolina which Biden dominated. Pete and Amy dropped out at that point. But Bloomberg joined and Warren was still in. Gabbard was too but we all know was a joke candidate.
Biden was against 4 options going into Super Tuesday. Biden won 10 of the 15 primaries on Super Tuesday. Came in 2nd for the couple he didn't win. After that is when Bloomberg got chased back out, and Warren dropped out realizing she was stripping votes from Bernie.
Bernie was ahead for all of 3 weeks. And at that point only 3 states were in. What truly happened in that time is a lot of media spin. Because they had nothing much to report on and kept belaboring over almost nothing of consequence. By the time my chance landed here in Illinois it was obvious Biden had it in the bag. Bernie dropped out himself only a couple weeks after.
It's interesting to see the consequences of a two-party system so clearly here. Only focusing on the voters in the middle because the others are secure, it's exactly what the maths predict.