About half an hour after President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race Sunday, he and several top Democrats rushed to endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris, for the Democratic nomination.
Throughout the day, Democrats from former President Bill Clinton, to Rep. Annie Kuster, chair of the vast, moderate New Democrat caucus, to progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), took their turn calling on Harris to unify the nation after weeks of volatility within the party. Yet, some of the most high-profile figures within the party have kept mum.
Namely, former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries all declined to immediately endorse Harris. Instead, these figures spent Sunday constructing reverential odes to Biden’s legacy.
“Joe Biden has been one of America’s most consequential presidents, as well as a dear friend and partner to me,” wrote Obama in a medium post, who chose Biden as his running mate in 2008 because he said at the time that he wanted a running mate with “gray in his hair.”
Schumer said, “Joe Biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader but he is a truly amazing human being. His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first.”
He added: “Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American.”
Jeffries was similarly appreciative, saying that Biden was one of the “most accomplished and consequential leaders in history.”
“America is a better place today because President Joe Biden has led us with intellect, grace, and dignity. We are forever grateful,” Jeffries wrote.
What do these three leaders, who failed to even mention Harris in their letters, have in common? They were the most consequential voices calling for Biden to drop out, and are now wary of exercising further political power by “coronating” Harris.
Obama wanted Sunday to be about Biden, The New York Times reported, after quietly backing calls for Biden to drop out for weeks. The President is a prideful man and is still “deeply resentful of his treatment under not only the Obama staff but also the way he was pushed aside for Hillary Clinton” in 2016,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said last week.
Immediately endorsing another candidate could’ve been perceived as a further snub to Biden, while also serving as a political misstep, sources told NYT. Already, advisors to former President Donald Trump, who has accepted the Republican nomination for the presidency, have characterized Biden’s choice to step down as an “attempted coup.”
“It’s deposing the president of the United States,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told Politico. “Look, you can’t step down as a candidate for president because you’re cognitively impaired while still being president.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) even suggested on Sunday that placing another Democrat on the ticket would be illegal, though Biden was never formally named the nominee.
In light of these criticisms, Obama and other figures are trying to avoid being painted as elite puppet masters. Both Jeffries and Schumer, for their part, played an extensive role in encouraging Biden to drop out, the Wall Street Journal reported. Schumer in particular appealed to Biden personally, driving to his beach house in Delaware on Saturday, July 13th, to meet in person with the president.
Schumer told Biden “he had come out of love and affection, and as a friend and colleague,” the WSJ reported.
“I do not expect you to walk out of this room making a decision,” Schumer told Biden at the conclusion of the meeting, “but I hope you will think about what I said.”
After Biden asked for another week to think, the two men hugged. Then, a little over a week later, Biden announced he was ending the campaign.
High-profile Democrat Michael Bloomberg also failed to endorse Harris, calling for Democrats to “take the pulse of voters, especially in battleground states, to determine who is best positioned to win in November and lead the country over the next four years.”
Some Democrats have shared Bloomberg’s desire to slow down, and consider other candidates in a kind of open primary. Pelosi, before endorsing Harris on Monday, led the charge for an open primary– with mini-events held by top Democrats – to levy concerns that party bosses were choosing the president rather than the voters, Politico reported.
Yet Pelosi’s endorsement of Harris might indicate that those plans are too lofty, with only 105 days left for the Democratic candidate for president to campaign before the election.
“Today, it is with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country’s future that I endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States,” Pelosi said in a statement.
