Obama was reluctant to endorse Kamala Harris after Biden's exit from 2024 race, book reveals
WASHINGTON, DC: Looks like Barack Obama wasn’t exactly sold on Kamala Harris' presidential prospects.
According to a bombshell new book, the former president wasn’t keen on giving Harris his stamp of approval after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. He didn’t think she could beat then-candidate Donald Trump.
The reluctant kingmaker
When Joe Biden announced he was stepping aside, Barack Obama urged Democrats to take a deep breath before crowning a successor. Veteran ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl spilled the behind-the-scenes drama in his new book 'Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America'.
Karl reveals that Obama wanted a full “process” to figure out who should carry the party’s torch. But the Democratic machine swung into action within days, and Harris was anointed the new nominee.
A senior Biden advisor who also served in Obama’s own White House told Karl the real reason for his hesitation. The 44th president didn’t think Harris could win.
“There’s only one Black Jesus,” the advisor remarked.
Obama was blindsided by Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement of Kamala Harris
Things got messy rather quickly. Karl writes that Obama lost it when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went rogue and endorsed Harris, just one day after Biden exited the race.
“The Obamas were not happy,” a Pelosi confidant told Karl. “This person summed up Obama’s message to Pelosi as, essentially, ‘What the f*** did you just do?’”
Turns out, Pelosi herself wasn’t exactly Harris' biggest fan either. Back in 2020, Pelosi had privately warned Biden against picking Harris as his running mate, according to Karl. But once the dominoes began to fall and other major Democrats rushed to back the vice president, Pelosi had little room to maneuver.
“She had no choice,” Karl wrote of Pelosi’s reluctant endorsement. “No other candidates had stepped forward – Kamala Harris was it. The only thing Pelosi could do was try to help her win the election.”
Failure to communicate
Nancy Pelosi’s move blindsided Barack Obama, who thought they were in agreement about how to handle Joe Biden’s likely exit. Karl says both leaders had privately agreed to stay neutral, giving the party time to think before declaring a nominee.
“They agreed Harris should not simply be handed the nomination unchallenged,” Karl wrote. “Therefore, Obama and Pelosi — arguably the two most influential figures in the Democratic Party — had privately agreed to abstain from making any endorsements.”
But Pelosi flipped the switch when Biden finally pulled the plug.
She reportedly told Obama, “That train has left the station.”
Kamala Harris on a potential 2028 run
Kamala Harris eventually lost to Donald Trump in a bruising election that left Democrats reeling and the GOP gloating. But the former vice president recently told the BBC she’s not done with politics.
“I am not done. I have lived my entire career as a life of service and it’s in my bones,” Harris declared.
She even said her grandnieces would “see a female president in the White House in their lifetime, for sure,” adding with a grin that it could “possibly” be her.
While Harris stopped short of announcing a 2028 run, she made it clear she’s not checking out anytime soon.
“If I listened to polls, I would have not run for my first office, or my second office — and I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here,” she said, brushing off skeptics.
