Barack Obama Finally Endorses His Former Vice President Joe Biden
Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday officially endorsed Joe Biden, who served as his vice president for eight years, for president in 2020.
Obama’s endorsement came as Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is seeking to unite the party ahead of his face-off against President Donald Trump in November.
I’m proud to endorse my friend @JoeBiden for President of the United States. Let’s go: https://t.co/maHVGRozkX
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 14, 2020
“Barack Obama spent much of the last five years urging Joe Biden not to run for president out of fear that he would embarrass himself,” Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement. “Now that Biden is the only candidate left in the Democrat field, Obama has no other choice but to support him.
“Even Bernie Sanders beat him to it. Obama was right in the first place: Biden is a bad candidate who will embarrass himself and his party. President Trump will destroy him.”
For months, Obama resisted making an endorsement.
He finally spoke out just one day after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who fought Biden for the nomination, also endorsed the former vice president.
Sanders suspended his presidential campaign last week, saying that he did not see a path forward.
On Monday, the Vermont democratic socialist endorsed Biden, who is widely seen as a more “moderate” Democrat.
“I am asking all Americans, I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans, to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” Sanders said during a virtual event with Biden.
Sanders referred to Trump “a president who apparently has never read the Constitution of the United States, who believes he is above the law, a president who lies all of the time, a president who has at least shown me that he is a racist and a sexist and a homophobe and a xenophobe and a religious bigot.”
According to CNN, Obama was in frequent contact with Sanders in the weeks prior to his announcement that he was suspending his campaign.
“I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful, and so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign,” Sanders said last week. “If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination, I would certainly continue the campaign — but it’s just not there.”
At least one report earlier this year indicated that Obama was growing concerned over Sanders’ momentum and was even considering intervening if it looked likely that Sanders would be the nominee.
But that did not end up happening.
Sanders was widely seen as the front-runner for the nomination after coming in second in Iowa and winning contests in New Hampshire and Nevada.
But Sanders’ campaign stalled after Biden won a much-needed and resounding victory in the South Carolina primary.
Within days, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden, who won a majority of the delegates on Super Tuesday.
A day after Super Tuesday, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg dropped out as well and endorsed Biden.
The endorsements for Biden kept pouring in as the establishment wing of the Democratic Party rallied around him.
Sanders’ campaign was never able to recover, and Biden became the front-runner.
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