Of course, the Convention Chicago Democrats were all about showing unity around Kamala Harris. Yet, looking between the lines, some doubts about all this ostentation of compactness honestly arise. In particular regarding the support, officially guaranteed by Barack Obamato the Democratic candidate. To understand what we are referring to, it is useful to consider a seemingly insignificant episode that occurred recently.
Last Friday, the day after the end of the Conventionthe governor of California, Gavin Newsomwas interviewed on Pod Save America: a podcast hosted by some former advisers of Obamalike Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan PfeifferAnd Tommy Vietor. During the episode, the governor joked with his interlocutors, making fun of the method (not exactly democratic) with which the Harris got the nomination Democratic presidential, following the torpedoing of Joe Biden. “We went through a very open process, a very inclusive process. It was a bottom-up process, I don’t know if you know. That’s what I was told to say,” he said. Newsomlaughing, amidst general hilarity. The governor also joked about the very rapid replacement of Biden with the Harris.
Now, it is certainly possible that these were simply innocent jokes. However, if you make such ironic comments immediately after the conclusion of the Conventionyou risk raising some doubts. Not only that. You also put your party in the difficult situation of exposing itself to the adversary. It is no coincidence that the spokesperson for the campaign Donald Trump, Steven Cheungimmediately seized the opportunity. “Gavin Newsom is saying out loud that there was an anti-democratic coup,” he thundered. Making matters even stranger is the fact that the governor made these comments during a podcast hosted by several former advisers to Obama. Figures who, in July, had contributed to pushing Biden to take a step back, so much so as to irritate, according to Politicalthe president’s electoral staff. To all these elements, others must be added. For months and months they have been pushing for the removal of the same Biden he was also another former advisor of Obamalike David Axelrod. Well, exactly Axelrodin June 2022, said that Newsom It would have been a great replacement for Bidenif the latter had withdrawn. “If the president did not run, it is difficult to imagine that Newsom would not be strongly tempted to enter the race,” he said, before adding: “Newsom He is young and politically adept, which may be just what the market will be looking for next. Biden”. Axelrod returned to office in February 2023. “The name of Gavin Newsom will be at the top of any group of potential candidates, and rightfully so,” he said, calling the governor “brilliant” and “charismatic.”
And this is where we need to add another element. Starting in 2023Axelrod he literally fired chain bullets against the re-candidacy of Biden: a series of criticisms, his, which have intensified after the disastrous televised debate of June 27th. Moreover, between June and July, other exponents of the Obama galaxy also spent themselves in favor of the torpedoing of Biden: just think about it Van Jones and, as we have already seen, to the same hosts of Pod Save America. Let us remember that, in June 2023, Obama had a lunch with the current president at the White House. On that occasion, while officially reiterating his support for his candidacy, he pointed out to him the difficulty on the horizon that a new electoral duel with Trump would have entailed. At the time, there were those who interpreted that meeting as a kind way to convince Biden to give up. It may be a coincidence, but the bombardment of Axelrod left not long after. That last July Obama has personally spent himself, to push the tenant of the White House to abandon the electoral race, is certainly not a mystery. But, most likely, his pressures had already begun months ago. Pressures that the former Democratic president had conducted indirectly, sending forward the exponents of his historical circle, starting with Axelrod.
And so we come to the electoral farewell of Biden. Not even twenty-four hours later, exactly Axelrod intervened, calling for an “open trial” for his replacement. A trial that then did not take place, given that the Harris almost mechanically took the president’s place, bypassing any possible appeal to the popular will. Well, at that point, many big dem quickly sided with the vice president. And yet Obama remained silent for several days. So much so that his endorsement arrived rather late. It is therefore very likely to hypothesize that the former Democratic president did not want the Harris as a replacement candidate: after all, her approval rating as number two in the White House had never been particularly brilliant. A factor, this, that ORbama certainly could not ignore. On the contrary, the frequent praises of Axelrod they imply that the former Democratic president was aiming precisely at Newsomwho however had officially withdrawn from a possible entry into the field. The question is: why? One hypothesis is that he did not want to burn himself, entering the game while the race was underway. Another hypothesis is that, in the internal power relations of the Democratic National Committee, the Harris turned out to be stronger in the end, to the point of imposing itself. This is not known. However, it remains that Obama he was not convinced of the Harris.
Here then a doubt arises. It is not that the former Democratic president, despite the ironclad support guaranteed at an official level, intends to resort to the strategy adopted with Biden? That is, saying one thing in public and doing exactly the opposite behind the scenes, sending forward his historical advisors? Perhaps the words spoken by Newsom a Pod Save America were nothing more than an innocent joke. But they were reminiscent of dynamics already seen. And they made the campaign of the Harris exposed itself to criticism Trump. So those words did some damage anyway. Naivety or malice? Who knows! Maybe we’re wrong, for goodness sake. But, if we were in Kamala Harriswe would refrain from having blind trust in Obama.
