April 14, 2020 8 Things You Need to Know About Obama’s Reluctant Endorsement of Joe Biden

Barack Obama did everything he could to avoid this moment. Here are 8 things you need to know about Obama’s refusal to endorse Joe Biden for an entire year. (A reminder for Biden in case he forgets again: Obama was the last president.)

1. Obama failed to talk Joe Biden out of running for president in 2020.

“The two men spoke at least a half dozen times before Mr. Biden decided to run,” according to The New York Times, with Obama even telling Biden, “You don’t have to do this, Joe, you really don’t.”

2. Obama succeeded in talking Joe Biden out of running for president in 2016.

“Obama repeatedly discouraged Joe Biden from running for the presidency to clear the path for Hillary Clinton,” according to Joe Biden. In his book, “Biden says that Mr. Obama played up the appeal of leaving politics and gave little encouragement about a possible bid. … Biden even reveals suspicions that Mr. Obama gave an ‘explicit commitment’ of support to Mrs. Clinton, believing she was best placed to secure his legacy.”

3. Obama supported all the candidates running – especially Elizabeth Warren.

According to The New York Times, Obama “offered every candidate his counsel,” and in December it leaked that Obama was secretly talking up Elizabeth Warren to donors behind the scenes.

4. Obama tried to kneecap Biden in December.

“If you look at the world and look at the problems, it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way,” Obama said, arguing women are better leaders than men. Obama also said politicians should understand "you are not there for life, you are not there in order to prop up your own sense of self-importance[.]"

5. Obama withheld his endorsement from Biden as long as he could.

“Do you believe Joe Biden when he says that he didn’t want Obama to endorse him?” Beto O’Rourke was asked. “No,” he responded, laughing.

6. Obama knows Joe Biden will “embarrass himself.”

In March 2019, Obama summoned Biden’s top campaign advisers and told them “they needed to make sure” Biden did not “embarrass himself,” according to The New York Times.

7. A senior Obama-Biden Administration official told CNN in September that it appeared Biden’s capacity was in obvious decline.

“Biden's strength has never been his clarity of message or his delivery. But watching his long, winding answers that don't really make sense in recent debates has also raised the question as to whether that has gotten worse and whether he is up for this,” the official said, according to Jake Tapper.

8. Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, and she lost.

Clinton is now a bitter, broken individual muttering about “the Russians” and “flashing videos” on the “dark web.” What will Biden blame for his loss?