By While Democrats put on a happy face during their national convention earlier in the month, it was anything but that behind the scenes, according to new reporting.
On the first night of the Chicago convention, President Biden’s speech faced several scheduling issues, resulting in him taking the stage past midnight, well after prime time, and causing planned tributes and performances to be cut. The organizational mishap underscored growing tensions within the Democratic Party, particularly with First Lady Jill Biden, who reportedly feels betrayed by party for turning her husband into a historical laughingstock.
Earlier in the month, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued an ultimatum to Biden: the president could take the easy way out or the hard way out. Biden soon after announced his withdrawal and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden’s endorsement was not meant to choose who he thought would make the best president, writes The Daily Mail. The president backed Harris to get back at Pelosi for throwing him overboard.
It is understood that the president has been keen to exact his revenge — namely with his full-throated endorsement of Harris as the new party nominee.
Pelosi and Harris are both from California but are not close. When Harris first ran for the state’s attorney general role in 2010, Pelosi endorsed a rival candidate.
After Biden dropped out, Pelosi had been in favor of an open convention instead of a coronation for Harris, with whom she is said to have serious reservations.
There is strong speculation that Biden endorsed Harris within hours of his withdrawal precisely to aggravate Pelosi — and to stop her from pushing Harris out, just as she’d done to him.
The television cameras were trained on Pelosi as Biden addressed the convention on Monday. She sat with the California delegation, holding a ‘We heart Joe’ sign and awkwardly mouthing along to chants of ‘We love you‘.
The newspaper writes that while Harris may not be particularly close with Pelosi, she still speaks with Barack Obama often. Maybe that’s why Obama reportedly believed she shouldn’t be the nominee.
In July, New Conservative Post reported that Obama preferred a different candidate to Harris because he thinks the vice president is “an incompetent.”
“’Obama’s very upset because he knows she can’t win,’ a Biden family source told The New York Post.
Obama views Harris as “incompetent,” referencing her role as the border czar who never visited the border and her controversial stance on health insurance for migrants. These issues, among others, have fueled Obama’s concerns about her ability to navigate the complex political landscape required for a successful presidential campaign.
‘When you are running for president, there are things you can and can’t say,” the source continued, emphasizing the delicate balance necessary in presidential campaigns.”
Obama allegedly had developed a strategic plan to get Biden out of the race, rote the newspaper. Part of this plan involved the article by George Clooney in the New York Times calling for Biden to stand down and allow a better candidate to take on Donald Trump.
His move backfired when Biden unexpectedly endorsed Harris almost immediately after making his announcement. “Obama was shocked” by this endorsement, the report claimed. Â
Whether or not picking Harris was the right move remains to be seen. Although she’s polling better than Biden following his brain-dead debate performance, the vice president still trails Trump in Nate Silver’s elections model.
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