Former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama endorsed Vice President Harris for president on Friday, becoming the final key leaders in the Democratic Party to unite behind Harris after President Biden abandoned his bid for a second term.<\/p>\n
A video posted on social media shows the Obamas calling Harris to inform her of their endorsement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe called to say Michelle and I couldn\u2019t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,\u201d the former president says to Harris.<\/p>\n
Michelle Obama adds, \u201cI can\u2019t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a separate statement, the Obamas pledged to \u201cdo everything we can\u201d to elect Harris and called on their legions of supporters to join the effort.<\/p>\n
They praised Harris\u2019s record of accomplishments, listing each of her previous roles in what could be interpreted as a rejoinder to Republicans who have labeled her a \u201cDEI hire\u201d \u2014 a reference to \u201cdiversity, equity and inclusion\u201d initiatives often used derisively to suggest that Harris only reached the upper echelon of American politics because of her race and gender.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Kamala has more than a r\u00e9sum\u00e9. She has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands,\u201d they wrote. \u201cThere is no doubt in our mind that Kamala Harris has exactly what it takes to win this election and deliver for the American people. At a time when the stakes have never been higher, she gives us all reason to hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their call with Harris took place on Wednesday. Barack Obama said the Democrats would be \u201cunderdogs\u201d but pledged to work hard for her election.<\/p>\n
\u201cBottom line is, we are ready to get to work,\u201d he said during the call, according to a transcript. \u201cWe are telling everybody to kick off those bedroom slippers and get off the couch and start knocking on doors and making phone calls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many Republicans seized on the fact that Obama did not mention or endorse Harris in his initial statement responding to Biden\u2019s abrupt exit from the race Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,\u201d he said in that statement. \u201cBut I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Donald Trump\u2019s campaign seized on Obama\u2019s lack of an endorsement to make the case that Harris\u2019s path to the nomination was not a done deal. Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, said Trump would not agree to debate Harris until she was officially the Democratic nominee, suggesting without evidence that Obama and other top Democrats were considering backing a different candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party \u2014 namely Barack Hussein Obama \u2014 that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone \u2018better,\u2019\u201d Cheung said in a statement Thursday evening. \u201cTherefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Obamas\u2019 endorsement comes after Harris already secured enough pledges from delegates to become the likely nominee. Biden exited the race on Sunday and immediately endorsed Harris, who quickly coalesced much of the Democratic Party behind her bid.<\/p>\n
Just before Biden dropped out of the race, Obama told allies that the president\u2019s path to victory had greatly diminished and he thought the president needed to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy, according to multiple people briefed on his thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations. In those conversations, Obama emphasized he felt protective over Biden as a friend and was concerned about his legacy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama endorsed Vice President Harris for president on Friday, becoming the final key leaders in the Democratic Party to unite behind Harris after President Biden abandoned his bid for a second term. A video posted on social media shows the Obamas calling Harris to inform her of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}