Reports have surfaced that former President Barack Obama called Joe Biden to offer congratulations after his crucial victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary this past weekend.
It should be noted that no other candidate who won a primary state – Bernie Sanders or Pete Buttigieg – received a similar congratulatory message.
Bloomberg News reports that despite the call, “Obama has said that he will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary.”
“They’re [two sources] skeptical an endorsement from the former president would shake up the race and believe it could even backfire,” they write, indicating an acknowledgment that the Obama name could be used as fodder for Trump’s re-election.
Could not load the poll.
“You launched Bill Clinton, Barack Obama to the presidency. Now you launched our campaign.”
In a rousing victory speech, Joe Biden thanked his South Carolina supporters—and said voters were looking for “results” over promises of revolution. Watch: https://t.co/Y6Uzsyoy2s pic.twitter.com/ccTp1gkACv
— ABC News (@ABC) March 1, 2020
Signs Obama Is Supporting Joe Biden
Biden has repeatedly invoked Obama’s name during the campaign, despite his former running mate leaving him twisting in the wind while Sanders built significant momentum.
“You launched Bill Clinton, Barack Obama to the presidency. Now you launched our campaign,” Biden told supporters after his victory in South Carolina.
That said, one could easily point a finger at Obama as the man most responsible for Bernie’s success and Biden’s – up until this point – failures.
In fact, the former President has seemingly offered more subtle support for Elizabeth Warren than his former vice president.
Speaking at a private event on leadership in Singapore in December, Obama suggested a woman would make a better leader than any man.
“Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you’re better than [men],” he told the audience.
Former President Obama called Joe Biden last night to congratulate him on his blowout victory in South Carolina last night, a person familiar with the call tells @mikememoli and @kwelkernbc — as first reported by Bloomberg News.
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) March 2, 2020
Must Stop Bernie
Obama’s phone call to Joe Biden may have been one of relief more than anything else.
Establishment Democrats and those from the Obama/Hillary era want nothing more than to screw Bernie Sanders out of the nomination yet again. President Trump has been eager to capitalize on the divide in the Democrat party.
“It is happening again to Crazy Bernie, just like last time, only far more obvious,” Trump tweeted. “They are taking the Democrat Nomination away from him, and there’s very little he can do.”
Reports surfaced in January that Obama believes Sanders “is both temperamentally and politically unfit to beat Trump in the 2020 general election.”
While there may be no public endorsement, Obama is surely cheering Biden on behind the scenes if it comes down to him and Sanders for the nomination.
Read more at the Political Insider