Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have endorsed Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign in a video of about one minute, which features a private phone conversation between the couple and the current vice president.
“We called to say, Michelle – and I couldn’t be prouder – to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Obama tells Harris.
“I am proud of you. This is going to be historic,” the former first lady tells Harris.
In post on X Barack Obama said: “Earlier this week, Michelle and I called our friend @KamalaHarris . We told her we think she’ll make a fantastic President of the United States, and that she has our full support. At this critical moment for our country, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure she wins in November. We hope you’ll join us.”
Talking into a cell phone and cracking a few smiles, Harris expressed her gratitude for the endorsement and their long friendship.
Harris, who has known the Obamas since before his election in 2008, thanked them for their friendship and said she looks forward to “getting there, being on the road” with them in the three-month blitz before Election Day on Nov. 5.
“We’re gonna have some fun with this too, aren’t we?” Harris said. The campaign said the video was the actual call, not a re-enactment.
Obama’s friendship with Harris
Obama, the first US Black president, remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic party even after more than a decade has passed since he was last elected.
The Associated Press opines that the endorsement highlights the friendship and potentially historic link between the nation’s first Black president and the first woman, first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to serve as vice president, who is now vying to break those racial barriers at the presidential level.
According to an Associated Press survey, Harris already has secured the public support of a majority of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which begins Aug. 19 in Chicago. The Democratic National Committee expects to hold a virtual nominating vote that would, by Aug. 7, make Harris and a yet-to-be-named running mate the official Democratic ticket.
Reuters says that Harris’s surprise bid against Republican rival Donald Trump continues to gain steam from supporters, donors and politicians less than a week after President Joe Biden bowed out of the race amid slumping poll numbers.
Obama has lent his support to Biden during big-money fundraisers, which were among some of the biggest blockbuster events of his campaign.
The endorsement could help activate and sustain energy and fundraising for Harris’s campaign and it signals he is likely to get on the campaign trail for Harris once she is officially the presumptive nominee, Reuters adds.
Obama initially withheld his endorsement even as Biden, his former vice-president, anointed her as his heir apparent. He reportedly did not want to put his thumb on the scale as the party worked through the process of determining its nominee.
