Breaking: Obama Endorses Biden for President

CNN reports on the former President's message:

Former President Barack Obama offered his formal endorsement of Joe Biden on Tuesday, injecting himself squarely in the presidential race for the first time by urging Democrats across the party's ideological spectrum to rally behind Biden and form a unified front to defeat President Donald Trump and win back the White House.

Obama, in a lengthy video taped on Monday and posted on Tuesday, lauds Biden's character and resilience, touting him as the right kind of candidate to lead the country through a crisis like the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Obama also highlights the stakes of the 2020 election by arguing Trump and Republicans in the Senate are solely interested in power, not making progress for Americans.

"If there's one thing we've learned as a country from moments of great crisis, it's that the spirit of looking out for one another can't be restricted to our homes, or our workplaces, or our neighborhoods, or our houses of worship," Obama says in the over 11-minute endorsement video. "It also has to be reflected in our national government."

He continues: "The kind of leadership that's guided by knowledge and experience, honesty and humility, empathy and grace -- that kind of leadership doesn't just belong in our state capitols and mayors offices. It belongs in the White House."

"And that's why I'm so proud to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States," he adds.

The endorsement reunites the former running mates and positions Obama, whose endorsement of Biden was seen as a forgone conclusion once Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race last week, to be one of Biden's most powerful surrogates in the race against Trump.

It also marks the public re-emergence of Obama into the political arena. The former president kept a low public profile throughout much of the Democratic nomination fight, but he was active behind the scenes.

Biden thanked Obama for the endorsement on Tuesday shortly after the video posted.

"Barack — This endorsement means the world to Jill and me," he wrote. "We're going to build on the progress we made together, and there's no one I'd rather have standing by my side."

People were quick to point out, however, that Obama's endorsement seemed lackluster and would probably do little to inspire undecided voters.

Take a look at some of the latest Tweets:

Interestingly, sources indicate that Obama played a major role in "accelerating" the end of the bid for the Democratic presidential candidate. Some even suggest Obama was involved in Klobuchar and Buttigieg's exits and endorsements of Biden.

The New York Times has more details on the matter:

Mr. Biden is grateful for Mr. Obama’s friendship but increasingly proud of his historic comeback. When news reports surfaced that Mr. Obama had called to congratulate Mr. Biden on his victory in South Carolina, the candidate made it clear to his staff that while his connection to Mr. Obama played a role in delivering African-American voters, Mr. Obama “had not lifted a finger” on his behalf, according to a senior Democrat with knowledge of his remarks.

Well, maybe a pinkie. Last year, Mr. Obama consulted with Mr. Biden’s team on campaign strategy, and he bucked up Mr. Biden after his loss in the Iowa caucuses. In a private dinner last fall with members of the liberal Democracy Alliance, Mr. Obama offered thinly veiled criticism of Mr. Sanders’s “revolutionary” policies and opined that voters wanted change, not to “tear down the system.”

Mr. Obama is relieved that the Democratic contest is over early, but he had other plans for 2020 — hoping to finish, publish and promote his White House memoirs before the campaign kicked into high gear.

He had intended to engage publicly only after the convention (now scheduled for August, at the earliest), in line with his fall barnstorming campaign on behalf of Mrs. Clinton in 2016 and congressional candidates in 2018. He resisted calls by some Democratic officials earlier this year to intervene on Mr. Biden’s behalf in the wake of Mr. Sanders’s victory in the Nevada caucuses, arguing that he did not want to “thumb the scale” for his friend.

Nonetheless, he was becoming more agitated by the state of the race as Mr. Sanders surged, and Mr. Biden slumped. By late February, he was telling people in his orbit that he thought Mr. Biden’s campaign had an alarming lack of “infrastructure” and shared his doubts about Mr. Biden’s belief that he could win the nomination after losing Iowa and New Hampshire.

Democratic officials say Mr. Obama had no direct role in the campaign shake-up that happened soon after. But people with knowledge of the situation say he made it clear that he supported Mr. Biden’s decision to name a new campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, a former Obama campaign field organizing specialist, and to move another Obama veteran, the former White House communications director Anita Dunn, into a more powerful role.

Mr. Obama did not directly encourage Mr. Sanders’s rivals to endorse Mr. Biden ahead of the decisive Super Tuesday primaries. But he did tell Pete Buttigieg, a moderate, that he would never have more leverage than on the day that he was quitting the race— and the former South Bend mayor soon joined the avalanche of former candidates backing Mr. Biden.

Mr. Sanders, who in 2016 accused the Democratic establishment of conspiring to support Mrs. Clinton, took note of all these moves, but he has made no such charges against Mr. Obama.

Users on Twitter pointed out the possibility of Obama intervening in the primaries to put Biden in the lead: