Obama Tells Biden He Won't Endorse Yet

[applegrove]

Obama Tells Biden He Won’t Endorse Yet

March 1, 2020 at 9:26 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 52 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2020/03/01/obama-tells-biden-he-wont-endorse-yet/

"SNIP......

“In former President Barack Obama’s conversation with Joe Biden after the South Carolina primary — the first congratulatory call the former president has been able to make to his former vice president during the 2020 campaign — Obama made clear he was planning to stay on the sidelines and not offer an endorsement in the race,” CNN reports.

.....SNIP"

[Gravitycollapse]

1. He's in a really tight spot. Endorsing too early could end badly if his chosen candidate loses.

He probably wants to wait until the outcome is a little clearer.

[applegrove]

3. He says it is to bring the party together. That way, there will be fewer hard

feelings as Obama celebrates either Biden or Bernie's primary win with the Democrats step up for the toughest GE fight ever.

[Moderateguy]

2. Don't former Presidents wait until after the nominee is a sure bet?

[murielm99]

5. Yes.

It is customary to avoid announcing until after the primary. Some Democratic organizations have this written into their bylaws.

[highplainsdem]

4. The CNN article explains WHY he won't endorse yet:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/01/politics/obama-biden-unify-democratic-party/index.html

"We are skeptical that an endorsement coming from us could truly change the political winds right now," the person close to Obama told CNN. If Obama were to endorse Biden, the person said, there is "a very real chance it backfires."

But more importantly, Obama still thinks his most valuable role is to try and unify the party.

"He feels that he's singularly positioned to help unify the party at the end of this," the Obama confidant said. "And if he were try to put his thumb on the scale now, it would take away his ability to do so when it's most needed -- the general election."

The person added: "So he's prepared to play a vigorous role in coalescing the party around the nominee and working to defeat Trump, but weighing in now likely only divides things worse and weakens his standing for when the Party will need it most."

[mr_lebowski]

7. Obama is a smart mofo ... (nt)

[Hortensis]

10. It must be very stressful for him. Even though he's sure

of what tradition and principle dictate, he has no crystal ball to assume him his decisions will turn out to be the right ones in these very perilous times for democracy.

[DrToast]

12. He's exactly right.

[Cha]

15. Still.. it's pretty cool that Biden got a Congratualtory Call

from President Obama.. it puts his Name Out There!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. After reading the article I get why he's not endorsing yet.

And I shudder to think about how certain Twitter feeds would blow up if he endorsed Biden right now. If we think it's been ugly so far...

[Sloumeau]

8. Obama is right.

He should not endorse until the nominee is chosen, or at the very least, completely inevitable.

[Mr.Bill]

9. Obama has already said twice that Biden was fit to be President.

Once in 2008 and again in 2012.

[pattyloutwo]

13. He also said

Women make better leaders, and most of the world’s problems can be attributed to old men.

[democrattotheend]

14. I'm guessing Obama is voting for Biden in the Illinois primary

But he's not going to tell anyone about it. The way the article was written seemed to suggest that, and I'd be really surprised if he voted for anyone else anyway. But we'll probably never know. I think Obama is right not to weigh in until everyone gets the chance to vote.

[Faux pas]

11. Interesting

hmmmm.