As my colleague Nick Arama reported, it’s been a whisper campaign of epic proportions regarding Barack Obama’s feelings about Vice President Kamala Harris and her chances of winning the 2024 election. Expect these whispers and leaks to continue up to the convention, and possibly beyond. There’s a revenge tour going on, most likely engineered by First Lady Jill Biden. According to one article, the Bidens never really forgave Obama for pushing Joe aside in 2016 in favor of Hillary Clinton, and there is even more bitterness over Biden being forced into one-term presidency status.
Biden’s feelings were raw for years after Obama effectively chose Hillary Clinton over his VP in 2016. And though it played out much more quietly, both of them also still remember their achingly uncomfortable run-up to 2020 — its negotiations, its tip-toeing around personal and political sensitivities and its Obaman interests in candidates not named Joe — all too well.
“Lady MacBiden” loves the power and the prestige of being in the White House and is no doubt pissed that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Obama tag-teamed to remove her husband from running for a second term. In February, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” alluded to this, and actually said Jill Biden was the driving force that convinced him to run for that second term.