Obama, Aug. 2008: "Joe Biden is what so many others pretend to be: a statesman with sound judgment

[highplainsdem]

who doesn't have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong."

[emmaverybo]

1. What a team! They both shine on these clips, in my mind. I am so looking forward to a Biden

presidency.

[crazytown]

2. And Joe promised not to run again

on his application to be the running mate. By 2015 he'd changed his mind. This time Obama chose Hillary.

[highplainsdem]

3. Obama promised in 2004 after being elected to the Senate that he wouldn't run for president in 2008.

[crazytown]

4. Whataboutism

does not change the facts. Obama valued Biden as an advisor, and appeal in the Midwest, not his potential as president. Joe himself said "This was about Barack’s legacy, and a significant portion of that legacy had not yet been cast in stone.” HRC was a safer pair of hands.

[highplainsdem]

6. Very disappointing to see you trying to belittle Biden this way.

[crazytown]

8. I am not meaning to belittle Biden.

The fundamental difference between us is that you see little intrinsic/enduring value in having a woman president. It does not move the scales enough in your calculations. To my mind, there better be a compelling reasons to pass up a qualified / talented women for the job at this time - and Biden is not so superior as to win me over. Obama shared that opinion in 2015, and I think he was right.

It is not just a question of policy and ideology. I'm hard core on this, and would welcome Amy in a heartbeat. My mother was the first GP in her family, after seeing her mother bleed to death during childbirth. She was slighted all her life by male collogues, but not by her husband a head of department in a public hospital, who made sacrifices to his career so that she might have a successful career of her own.

That's where I'm coming from. You are a fierce advocate for Biden. I am just as committed to a woman president.

It is always the same argument. Not this woman. Not this time.

It's time.

[highplainsdem]

9. As a feminist, I abhor sexism, whether it's aimed at men or women. And for that reason

I do NOT see any intrinsic value in having a woman president, UNLESS a female candidate is the most qualified.

I don't think that's the case now.

It was clearly the case in 2016. HRC was a much stronger candidate than Sanders.

And she was a much stronger candidate than any of the female Democratic candidates running this time.

Experience matters. Resumes matter. Electability matters.

Which is why HRC was the best candidate in 2016, and Biden's the best candidate now.

And those qualifications are why Biden's the front-runner now.

[crazytown]

10. "unless a female candidate is the most qualified"

But that's the problem isn't it. Women have to be better than men to get the same job. There is a deep social bias against professional women, and it hurts all of us. And this presidency is an atrocity. Look at his family. What message does that send to girls? You can have success if you are model material, but when you get older it's onto the scrap heap. A woman president is the best answer his misogyny.

If it was just men, I would support Biden, and I would not support someone liable presidency or the House in 2020. That's what the primaries are about. Something to be settled by votes, not polls.

[PatSeg]

13. Well said

People are very insecure right now with Trump in the White House. Now more than ever, they are looking for proven experience and there is no one running who even comes close to Biden in that regard.

I want a woman president, we are long over due, but I am more concerned with the entire world blowing up with a madman in the White House. I like most of our candidates, but I trust Joe the most. If he wasn't running, I'd be looking at Klobuchar or Warren.

[PatSeg]

12. We don't know how Obama felt

He did not support Joe as a presidential candidate, because he was not running and Hillary was. Meanwhile as his VP, Joe deferred to Obama with grace and dignity, something that could not have been easy after so many years as a leader in the senate. There is nothing to indicate that Obama thought Hillary Clinton was a "safer pair of hands".

I have no doubt that if Joe becomes the nominee, Obama will enthusiastically support him much like he did Hillary.

[Green Line]

16. Elizabeth Warren told the people of Massachusetts she wasn't going to run for President

[ritapria]

5. Why hasn't Obama endorsed Joe ?

Reportedly he discouraged Joe from running for President in both 2016 and 2020 … Joe's impolitic campaign gaffes drove Obama bat shit crazy during the 2008 campaign …..

[highplainsdem]

7. Because both Barack and Michelle have made it clear they will not endorse anyone during the primary.

Which is SOP, by the way.

[PatSeg]

14. Who is it that is reading Obama's mind?

And who said Obama discouraged Joe from running in 2016 and 2020?

[Hortensis]

19. Because PRINCIPLED presidents never endorse anyone before

Democratic voters decide on who they want through the primary process. THEN Democratic presidents support our choice.

This question was posted repeatedly in 2016. How unfortunate that some have "forgotten" the answer. I'd prefer to think it was not because the very basic and imortant principle underlying this was not understood or appreciated.

[wiley]

11. We were so blessed by Obama and Biden

As we are by Biden agreeing to run for POTUS when we desperately need his consistency. Say what you will, Joe is Joe and afterv40 years he’s not going to go psycho or turn into someone else. I still adore Yang and will continue to fight for him, but anybody trashing Biden is not my friend nor ally.

[PatSeg]

15. And Joe

will surround himself with qualified people. It takes more than one person to run a country. No president does it alone, though Trump tries.

[Peacetrain]

17. Isn't that just the best!

[Martin Eden]

18. Good judgement, except when it mattered most

In October 2002 I made a vow that no Democrat who voted to give GW Bush authority to invade Iraq would ever get my vote in a Democratic primary. That was the time when we desperately needed strong Democratic leaders to stand up and speak truth to power in doing everything they could to stop the neocon's mad rush into that colossal strategic blunder and war crime.

I may break that vow and vote for Joe Biden in this primary if I think he has the best chance to beat Trump. This election is no sure thing, and Joe Biden may be the leader best suited to bring us out of the current horror show.

I like Joe and always have, but let's not pretend he showed good judgment in his 2002 IWR vote. Of course, he was far from alone. Nearly half the Dems in Congress made the same terrible mistake, including John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.

[Scurrilous]

20. K&R