Biden for President?

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Stacyhs said:
It's important because I didn't say he didn't want to endorse Biden. I said he didn't want to endorse anyone until the nominee was chosen. Simple as that.

I suspect Obama always wanted Biden to be the nominee but we can't know that. Maybe he preferred Harris or Buttigieg. Who knows?
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More to the point: Who cares?

If Obama won't endorse anyone until after they've secured the nomination (at least presumptively), and we can never know who he actually preferred, then what is even the value of his endorsement?

All he's really saying is, "the guy you picked isn't so bad that I'd prefer Donald Trump." It really is just a pro forma thing. The party picks their candidate. The party's celebrity politician emeritus puts their rubber stamp of approval on the pick (who could have been anyone). The party moves on to the general election.

One wonders how bad a candidate would have to be, before Barack Obama seriously considered withholding his endorsement.
 
What's the pattern, historically, of the previous president endorsing a candidate during the party primary?
 
theprestige said:
One wonders how bad a candidate would have to be, before Barack Obama seriously considered withholding his endorsement.
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He would never have endorsed Bernie. Establishment/corporate Democrats put a higher priority on beating the other side of their own party than on opposing the other party.
 
Scopedog said:
What's the pattern, historically, of the previous president endorsing a candidate during the party primary?
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I have no idea. I assume it varies by whether the candidate is the incumbent or not.

According to Time, Bush didn't endorse Trump (before or after the primary):

https://time.com/4318875/george-jeb-bush-donald-trump-endorse/

Anyway, if it's customary for the former president to endorse anyone who wins their party's nomination, then what significance (if any) should we attach to Obama's endorsement of Biden?

I think we can infer that Barack Obama doesn't believe Joe Biden is a Lovecraftian horror that must be stopped before it crosses the Threshold.
 
Delvo said:
He would never have endorsed Bernie. Establishment/corporate Democrats put a higher priority on beating the other side of their own party than on opposing the other party.
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A fascinating, but untestable hypothesis. Too bad Obama didn't stand up for Biden earlier in the campaign, when it looked like Sanders was taking the lead.
 
Delvo said:
He would never have endorsed Bernie. Establishment/corporate Democrats put a higher priority on beating the other side of their own party than on opposing the other party.
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He 100% would have endorsed him. No doubt in my mind.

At most Obama might have leveraged this uncertainty into a promise from Sanders to let Obama have some strong say as to Sanders' running mate and cabinet.
 
Regarding listening to a debate between the two, "The horror. The horror."

It will set rhetoric back to Australopithecines.
 
Delvo said:
He would never have endorsed Bernie.
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Nonsense.

Delvo said:
Establishment/corporate Democrats put a higher priority on beating the other side of their own party than on opposing the other party.
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This is easily proven wrong by the "Blue no matter who" phrase that was so popular among the rank and file Democrats throughout the primary. Judging all Democrats by the actions of those few selfish, short-sighted children in the BernieBro camp who have clearly stated that they'd rather vote Trump than Biden does you no favors.
 
I think the most meaningful and interesting endorsements are those that come from the other side of the political aisle.

Like Vernon Jones, a Democrat member of the Georgia House of Representatives who endured Trump today. He's a black guy, too, making Trump the worst Literal Hitler ever.
 
redietz said:
Regarding listening to a debate between the two, "The horror. The horror."

It will set rhetoric back to Australopithecines.
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I know our southern hemisphere cousins are kind of backwards, but this is harsh.
 
Steve said:
Why “too bad”? He did not need to.
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"Too bad" in the sense that it would have been a test of the hypothesis.

But now that window has closed, and that test is no longer possible. So we're left with an untestable hypothesis. Which is too bad, in my opinion.

As for whether he needed to endorse Biden earlier to help him pull ahead of Bernie: It's easy enough to see in hindsight. Did Obama actually know it with foresight at the time, though?
 
sir drinks-a-lot said:
I think the most meaningful and interesting endorsements are those that come from the other side of the political aisle.

Like Vernon Jones, a Democrat member of the Georgia House of Representatives who endured Trump today. He's a black guy, too, making Trump the worst Literal Hitler ever.
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There were Jew trusties at Auschwitz, though. So Trump is still Literal Hitler, and Vernon Jones is just Literal Uncle Tom House ******. #ORANGEMANBAD
 
wareyin said:
This is easily proven wrong by the "Blue no matter who" phrase that was so popular among the rank and file Democrats throughout the primary.
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Easy positions aren't much proof of anything. Mainstream Democrats can safely say "Blue no matter who" when there's still a mainstream candidate in the contest.

Actual proof would be mainstream Democratic turnout for Bernie in the general. And that won't be easy to prove at all.
 
sir drinks-a-lot said:
I think the most meaningful and interesting endorsements are those that come from the other side of the political aisle.

Like Vernon Jones, a Democrat member of the Georgia House of Representatives who endured Trump today. He's a black guy, too, making Trump the worst Literal Hitler ever.
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As we all must, for some time to come.
 
theprestige said:
Easy positions aren't much proof of anything. Mainstream Democrats can safely say "Blue no matter who" when there's still a mainstream candidate in the contest.
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When Sanders was in the lead, it wasn't being said because they felt safe that Biden would still win it.

Delvo said:
Actual proof would be mainstream Democratic turnout for Bernie in the general. And that won't be easy to prove at all.
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You're right that it won't be easy to measure mainstream Democratic turnout for Sanders in the general, but you're wrong that it's the only way to disprove Delvo's bizzaro-world claim that the Dems would vote Trump over Sanders. It's clearly a projection, as Delvo has himself claimed Trump is better than Biden, while no "mainstream Dem" on this board or elsewhere has said Trump is better than Sanders.
 
wareyin said:
When Sanders was in the lead, it wasn't being said because they felt safe that Biden would still win it.



You're right that it won't be easy to measure mainstream Democratic turnout for Sanders in the general, but you're wrong that it's the only way to disprove Delvo's bizzaro-world claim that the Dems would vote Trump over Sanders. It's clearly a projection, as Delvo has himself claimed Trump is better than Biden, while no "mainstream Dem" on this board or elsewhere has said Trump is better than Sanders.
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Correction: You attributed part of my post to Delvo.
 
sir drinks-a-lot said:
I think the most meaningful and interesting endorsements are those that come from the other side of the political aisle.

Like Vernon Jones, a Democrat member of the Georgia House of Representatives who endured Trump today. He's a black guy, too, making Trump the worst Literal Hitler ever.
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The list of Republicans endorsing Biden is growing:

When we founded the Lincoln Project, we did so with a clear mission: to defeat President Trump in November. Publicly supporting a Democratic nominee for president is a first for all of us. We are in extraordinary times, and we have chosen to put country over party — and former vice president Joe Biden is the candidate who we believe will do the same.

Biden is now the presumptive Democratic nominee and he has our support. Biden has the experience, the attributes and the character to defeat Trump this fall. Unlike Trump, for whom the presidency is just one more opportunity to perfect his narcissism and self-aggrandizement, Biden sees public service as an opportunity to do right by the American people and a privilege to do so.

Biden understands a tenet of leadership that far too few leaders today grasp: The presidency is a life-and-death business, that the consequences of elections have real-world effects on individual Americans, and that all of this — all of the struggle, toil and work — is not a zero-sum game.
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That list includes:

Other current and former Republican figures

Chesley Sullenberger
Bruce Bartlett, author, historian, policy advisor to Ronald Reagan (former Republican, now Independent; previously endorsed Elizabeth Warren)[495][496]
Max Boot, author, consultant, military historian, columnist for The Washington Post (former Republican)[497]
George Conway, attorney (former Republican before 2018, now Independent)[498]
Matt K. Lewis, columnist for The Daily Beast, political commentator (Republican)[499]
Steve Schmidt, senior advisor and chief strategist for the John McCain 2008 presidential campaign (former Republican before 2018, now Independent) [500]
Mac Stipanovich, political activist and strategist (former Republican)[501]
Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, former U.S. Air Force pilot and airline captain during the water landing of US Airways Flight 1549 (former Republican)[502]
Rick Wilson, political strategist, media consultant, author (Republican) [503]
John Weaver, political consultant, chief strategist for the John Kasich 2016 presidential campaign (Republican)
 
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