Former President Barack Obama gave his endorsement of his former vice chairman , Joe Biden Tuesday during a video message posted to his social media accounts.
“I’m so proud to endorse Joe Biden for President of the us . Choosing Joe to be my vice chairman was one among the simplest decisions I ever made, and he became an in depth friend. and that i believe Joe has all the qualities we’d like during a President immediately ,” Obama said during a nearly 12 minute long message, which has received 1 million views within the first 39 minutes it had been posted, consistent with data from Twitter.
Obama praised Biden in language strikingly almost like that utilized in his 2017 speech honoring the previous vice chairman with the Medal of Freedom.
“Through all his trials, he’s never once forgotten the values or the moral fiber that his parents passed on to him, which made him who he’s . That’s what steels his faith – in God, in America, and altogether folks ,” Obama said.
A senior advisor to Biden previously told ABC News that they anticipated that Obama’s endorsement would be wiped out how in order that “everybody will skills strongly he feels about this.”
Biden reacted to Obama’s endorsement during a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, writing: “Barack — This endorsement means the planet to Jill and me. We’re getting to repose on the progress we made together, and there’s nobody I’d rather have standing by my side.”
The video message went far beyond an easy endorsement of the previous vice president–it also served as a message to the Democratic Party over all about the necessity to unify before the election in November. Obama specifically praised Sen. Bernie Sanders within the video for his impact on the party.
“Bernie’s an American original – a person who has devoted his life to giving voice to working people’s hopes, dreams, and frustrations. He and that i haven’t always agreed on everything, but we’ve always shared a conviction that we’ve to form America a fairer, more just, more equitable society,” Obama said of the Vermont Senator.
“We both know that nothing is more powerful than many voices calling for change. and therefore the ideas he’s championed; the energy and enthusiasm he inspired, especially in children , are going to be critical in moving America during a direction of progress and hope.”
The former president also nodded to a serious theme of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign, arguing that “even before the [COVID-19] pandemic turned the planet the wrong way up , it had been already clear that we would have liked real structural change.”
While Obama didn’t explicitly mention President Donald Trump within the video released Tuesday, he issued a stinging rebuke of the GOP, saying that “the Republicans occupying the White House and running the U.S. Senate aren’t curious about progress. They’re curious about power.”
“So our country’s future hangs on this election. And it won’t be easy. the opposite side features a massive fund . the opposite side features a propaganda network with little regard for the reality . On the opposite hand, pandemics have how of cutting through tons of noise and spin to remind us of what’s real, and what’s important,” Obama added.
Referencing the continued coronavirus crisis, Obama added that he believes Biden has the “character and therefore the experience to guide us through one among our darkest times and heal us through an extended recovery,” and surround himself with a team which will guide the country through the continued pandemic.
“This crisis has reminded us that government matters. It’s reminded us that good government matters. That facts and science matter. That the rule of law matters. That having leaders who are informed, and honest, and seek to bring people together instead of drive them apart – those quite leaders matter,” Obama said.
Obama also acknowledged the ideological shift within the party since he held the presidency, saying that he wouldn’t have run the “same race,” that he did during his successful 2008 campaign.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the incredible progress that we made together during my presidency. But if I were running today, I wouldn’t run an equivalent race or have an equivalent platform as I did in 2008. the planet is different; there’s an excessive amount of loose end for us to only look backwards. we’ve to seem to the longer term . Bernie understands that. And Joe understands that,” Obama said.
Obama also shared his support for Biden’s decide to expand his signature legislation, Obamacare, because the party continues to grapple with divisions over the difficulty of health care, and progressive involves a single-payer system.
“We need to protect the gains we made with the Affordable Care Act, but it’s also time to travel further. we should always make plans affordable for everybody , provide everyone with a public option, expand Medicare, and finish the work in order that health care isn’t just a right, but a reality for everyone .”
While the campaign trail remains off limits because the COVID-19 crisis continues, Obama concluded his video by telling viewers he will “see you on the campaign trail as soon as [he] can.”
The announcement comes as Biden has continued to consolidate support within the Democratic Party because the presumptive nominee. Sources conversant in former President Obama’s thinking had previously said he would hold off on an endorsement during the Democratic primary, citing his belief that “ a strong primary in 2007 and 2008 not only made him a far better election candidate, but a far better president, too.”
Biden also weighed in on the previous president’s endorsement shortly after entering the 2020 race, saying he asked the previous president to not throw his support behind him.
“I asked President Obama to not endorse me,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware the day he announced his candidacy. “Whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits.”
The endorsement are going to be the second show of party unity within the last two days following Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ announcement yesterday that he’s backing Biden’s bid.
“Today, i’m asking all Americans, I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every Independent, I’m asking tons of Republicans to return together during this campaign to support your candidacy — which I endorse,” Sanders said Monday on a joint livestream event on the nation’s economic response to the novel coronavirus.
Obama himself has spoken with several former 2020 candidates, including Sanders, in recent weeks about the way to best position the Democratic Party to win in November, consistent with a source conversant in the conversations, and stressed that defeating Trump is “paramount.”mination
