The Obama Biden Breakup

Today is the day we’ve been waiting for…to come again…for the third time.

Joe Biden has finally announced that he is in the race for president. Some interesting news of the day is that Joe Biden and his campaign manager are both claiming that Biden has asked former President Obama not to endorse. If you busted into laughter or simply rolled your eyes, you are not alone. Biden is claiming that he wants to make his own way and build off his own merits. Unless the Inception team snuck into Biden’s dreams and planted this desire, there are other explanations to it.

There are two reasons why someone would ask a person of influence not to endorse.

It would hurt the candidate: This is possible. Joe may have said this to spare Obama’s feelings, or maybe Obama rationally brought this up. Obama campaigned well for Hillary, especially if rumors are true about their mutual distaste. He was even so bold to state: “I will consider it an insult to my legacy if you do not vote”. Fortunately, when Donald Trump was elected, I got to post this status: “I hope you got the message”.

Democrats love Obama. The media loves Obama. But as Hillary found out, cool does not transfer. Obama remained relatively popular during his presidency, but governorships, state legislatures, and congress were decimated during his tenure. The economic recovery was slow, healthcare costs exploded, and many received buyer’s remorse after the “change” wasn’t what they hoped for.

Obama is not a moderate, but to some of the young radical Democrats, he didn’t go far enough with his policies.

Biden can’t completely detach himself from the administration he served as VP, but he can’t completely repeat the past. President Trump proved that it was a change election, and though the man who provided change is controversial, America is looking pretty good.

It would hurt the endorser: Obama has nothing to worry about. He’s going to be living off rainbows and kisses for years to come. He had the legroom to endorse Biden without serious repercussions, but it’s not an impossible fear.

I have fresh experience myself. I worked on an election for my sister, who was the supreme underdog. After people’s livelihoods political futures were threatened, we made a decision that endorsements weren’t going to be a thing in the campaign. We literally told people not to do it, especially if they had political aspirations.

If Obama were a young Senator starting out and didn’t want to tick off future donors or voters, that would be one thing, but he was the president.

It’s hard to take Biden seriously about making his own way. He was a U.S. Senator for thirty-six years. His hands have been on major legislation. He voted for wars. Biden was the Chair of the Judiciary Committee during the Anita Hill hearings. He helped to orchestrate that “high-tech lynching” of Justice Clarence Thomas. He has made a run for president in the past, and he served as Obama’s VP for eight. He was one heartbeat away from running the most powerful country in the world.

Biden’s Deputy Campaign Manager, Kate Bedingfield, claimed today on MSNBC that Biden wants to make his own case. If his case wasn’t made forty-plus years in office, it’s time to pack it up.

Joe Biden and Barack Obama chatting about the future of America around a campfire and saying, “We need to give America the chance to decide between the young whippersnappers”, is a cute little fantasy. It’s not remotely believable if you know anything about politics.

People enter in races with endorsements to intimidate the competition and shut other people down, or they get them later to edge out the competition. If Biden thought Obama’s seal of approval was going to help him, he would want it.

It’s more likely that Obama made that argument, and it’s likely he made it because he didn’t honestly want to endorse Biden. Obama was an incredibly fresh face when he rose to the top like rocket. Maybe he doesn’t want to support the old guard. Maybe he wants to recreate history by not relying on a past relic.

I respect when party leaders make a commitment to not get involved with primaries. They don’t want to influence their people, discourage someone from running, or hinder their future chance of being reelected. Some leaders are very serious about it. Some claim they won’t get involved but meddle behind the scenes. Some don’t care and push their influence as far as it can go.

Obama is not the sit out type. Obama is a two-time winner though. After putting his neck on the line for Hillary Clinton, why would he mess up again? In 2018, Obama’s slate of candidates were fairly safe bets. Interestingly enough, Robert “Beto” O’Rourke didn’t make the cut. Why? Because it was more likely that he was going to lose in Texas to Ted Cruz, no matter how much the press fawned over him.

I think endorsements don’t mean nearly as much as politicians do, so if they want to keep pretending otherwise, they have to keep picking winners.

If Obama could play kingmaker right now, he would. If he can make a safe bet that will result in him looking more important than he is, he will.