Washington.-Minutes before the official announcement by X, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama already knew that Joe Biden was renouncing his presidential candidacy and supporting Kamala Harris as his successor to face Donald Trump in the November 5 elections.
Clinton and Obama are familiar with the political procedures in Washington, and each of the former presidents stuck to the script they were playing when the countdown began to end Biden’s candidacy.
Clinton supported Biden until the last minute; Obama was indifferent and played the role of a backstage runner. The press releases of the former presidents, when Biden had already acknowledged his downfall, reveal their different strategies in a historic time for the United States.
“Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we have to elect her,” Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton posted on social media.
“I have extraordinary confidence that our party leaders will be able to create a process that will produce a standout candidate,” Obama said in his statement, without mentioning Harris.
The different positions of Biden-Clinton versus Obama expose a deep internal conflict within the Democratic Party. For Harris, the Biden-Clinton tandem is not enough to secure the nomination at the Convention, since so far she has only added the delegates from her district -California- and the Congressional African American Caucus.
Biden’s support does not mean he has his delegates, and regarding campaign funds, there will be a long discussion to determine whether they belong to the official ticket or are directed to the Democratic Party until a candidate is designated at the Convention that will be held on August 19 in Chicago.
The Democratic Party also has a faction on the left that always nominates its own candidate. In 2016 against Hillary Clinton and in 2020 against Biden, that sector supported the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. If they did so when there was a consensus candidate, it is very likely that they will do so in 2024 as well, given the internal crisis caused by Biden’s decline.
Outside the Clinton family and the left wing of the party, there is the bloc led by Obama. They are Democrats who are positioned in the middle of the spectrum and have many votes in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Michigan, key states for defeating Trump in November.
That bloc does not support Harris – in principle – and Obama’s statement avoiding her name is a clear signal. From this electoral perspective, the former president is looking for another candidate to add votes in three electoral groups that repel Harris’s political image.
Biden’s nominee fails to empathize with the independent working class in industrial states – like Trump’s running mate JD Vance – and has difficulty communicating with Hispanic voters who question the economic situation, and despite belonging to the African-American community, she will have a hard time convincing those voters who feel more comfortable with Republican promises.
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement, and I intend to win this nomination. Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, speaking to Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” Harris posted on social media.
In this statement, the vice president acknowledges that the support of Biden and Clinton is not enough. Harris assumes that at the Chicago Convention she could compete with two heavyweight candidates: the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker and the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer.
The process ahead will be short and complex. The Convention is on August 19 and the partisan struggle is Biden-Clinton vs Obama. The ending is open, while Trump campaigns while waiting for his Democratic opponent.Infobae.
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2024-07-27 15:58:15