It’s true: the US Democratic Party is showing off its unity around Kamala Harris after the withdrawal of Joe Biden. The endorsements that the vice president has received to become the new presidential candidate of the Donkey are numerous and important. Yet, her political future is shrouded in a vaguely disturbing silence. Barack Obama. So far, the former Democratic president has not given his support to the Harris. There are those who say that he wants to remain super partes. This interpretation is difficult to believe, however, given that Obama he has never given up having significant political weight within the Donkey since he left the White House.
Not only that. The same Obama played a key role in pushing Biden to step aside. It all started in June last year, when – during a lunch at the White House – the former president began a campaign moral persuasion to convince his former deputy to step down. Then, in the following months, the entourage of Obamastarting with the former senior advisor David Axelrodbegan to fire Biden: a bombardment, intensified following the disastrous televised debate of 27 June.
Certain, Obama had been the great sponsor of Biden in the 2020 Democratic primaries. However, his support was not due to sympathy reasons. Obamaat that juncture, needed a fundamentally gray candidate to achieve two objectives. First: to unite a large part of the Donkey against the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. Second: to allow an effective division of seats within a possible new Democratic administration. It is no coincidence that in the cabinet of Biden some staunch Obama supporters have assumed top roles: just think of the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellenor to the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin. And be careful: Obama he supported Biden despite it being clear, already in 2020, that the current president had some psychophysical problems (it was August of that year when the then Democratic candidate publicly refused to undergo a cognitive test).
Then the inevitable happened. The conditions of Biden have worsened further. And the risk of debacle electoral has become increasingly concrete. Obama he then began his torpedo maneuvers, clashing with the president’s family, who did not want to hear of him stepping back. In the end he succeeded, but now he finds himself faced with a (possible) candidate who is unwelcome to him: the former Democratic president knows very well that Harris he is an unpopular figure, who has also proved to be impalpable as vice president. Probably Obama hopes that the governor of California will take the field, Gavin Newsomwhich has been praised several times by Axelrod starting in 2022. That same Axelrod who, coincidentally, on Sunday had called for an “open process” to replace the candidacy of Biden.
Without a doubt, undermining the Harris it will be difficult for Obama at this point. The vice president has received heavy endorsements from Nancy Pelosi and of Hillary Clinton. She would also have already secured over 500 delegates, without forgetting that, if she were the candidate, she could directly benefit from the campaign funds. Biden. So there are underground negotiations going on within the Democratic establishment. If Obama If he doesn’t win, he could try to have a say in the choice of the running mate from the Harris (always assuming that the latter gets it in the end) nomination). We will see how the matter develops. The fact remains for now that the unity flaunted by the Democratic Party is only a facade. And that significant cracks are visible beneath the surface.
