Reporter and author Jonathan Allen revealed Tuesday that former President Barack Obama actively sought to prevent Vice President Kamala Harris from becoming the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden exited the race, expressing doubts about her chances of winning and pushing instead for a more open nomination process.
“President Obama absolutely did not think that Joe Biden should continue, according to our sources close to President Obama,” Allen said during an appearance on MSNBC. “And he also didn’t want Kamala Harris to be the replacement for Biden. He didn’t think that she was the best choice for Democrats, and he worked really behind the scenes for a long time to try to have a mini-primary, or an open convention, or a mini-primary leading to an open convention, did not have faith in her ability to win the election.”
Allen, who is a senior political reporter for NBC News, joined forces with Amie Parnes, The Hill’s senior political correspondent, for a conversation on MSNBC about their upcoming book, FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House, which is scheduled for release this month.
“As it turned out, she didn’t win, but he was really working against her,” Allen added, underscoring Obama’s reluctance to back Harris.
Allen noted that when Biden withdrew from the race, Obama refrained from endorsing Harris during his initial conversations with her, indicating his hesitation to throw his support behind her candidacy.
While both Barack and Michelle Obama did ultimately endorse Harris, their statements of support came five days after Biden publicly announced he was stepping aside and endorsing Harris himself.
“In one moment, he had set up a phone call with Congressman [James] Clyburn from South Carolina on the day that Joe Biden handed off the baton to Kamala Harris, and Obama had set up a call with Clyburn for like 5:30 that afternoon. And Clyburn thought to himself, this guy is going to try to rope me into the open convention thing, I better get my endorsement of Harris out there fast, so this is a short conversation,” Allen said.
An excerpt from FIGHT, published by The Hill, offers further insight into the internal dynamics, revealing that Biden consistently urged Harris not to publicly criticize or separate herself from his administration’s decisions.
“But the day of the debate Biden called to give Harris an unusual kind of pep talk — and another reminder about the loyalty he demanded. No longer able to defend his own record, he expected Harris to protect his legacy,” Allen and Parnes wrote. “Whether she won or lost the election, he thought, she would only harm him by publicly distancing herself from him — especially during a debate that would be watched by millions of Americans. To the extent that she wanted to forge her own path, Biden had no interest in giving her room to do so.”
During that conversation, Biden reportedly told Harris, “No daylight, kid,” making clear his expectation that she would present a united front at the debate.
Throughout her campaign, Harris faced criticism for not staking out positions that diverged more clearly from Biden’s policies, even after taking his place at the top of the ticket. At one point during an appearance on The View, she admitted she couldn’t name a single issue she would have handled differently from Biden in his first term.
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