WASHINGTON: The White House yesterday left open the possibility that President Barack Obama would make an endorsement in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary race, which could feature his vice president running against his former secretary of state.
Vice President Joe Biden is mulling a race against Hillary Clinton, the current front runner in the nominating contest, who is struggling to overcome fire over her use of a private email server during her time as the top U.S. diplomat.
Obama is close to both leaders and has not indicated support for either in a potential match-up. Biden and Obama had lunch at the White House yesterday after the president returned from a two-week vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest, asked whether the president would openly back one of the Democratic candidates, said it was not out of the question.
“I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of ... an endorsement in the Democratic primary,” Earnest told reporters, adding that Obama planned to vote in the primary election in Illinois, the state he represented as a senator before entering the White House.
Earnest repeated that Obama has said choosing Biden as his running mate in 2008 was the best political decision he had ever made. He said Biden, who has already been on a national political ticket twice, knows the challenges that would face him if he decided at this stage to run.
“There is probably no one in American politics today who has a better understanding of exactly what is required to mount a successful national presidential campaign,” Earnest said.
Despite her struggles, Clinton remains the prohibitive favourite, not least because of an early start on fundraising and an advanced get-out-the-vote structure in early voting states.
A match-up between the two would no doubt create awkwardness for the president and others in the White House whose priority is to elect another Democrat in 2016 to preserve the record established under Obama’s watch.
More prominent Democrats cracked open the door for Biden to enter the race. California Governor Jerry Brown told NBC’s Meet the Press programme that, if he were Biden, he would give “very serious consideration” to a presidential run.
Brown said the email saga surrounding Clinton’s private email server as Secretary of State carried a “dark energy” that represents a substantial challenge for her campaign. “It is almost like a vampire. She is going to have to put a stake...in the heart of these emails,” the California Democrat said.
Asked if Biden should run, Brown said: “You are asking me presidential advice. All I can say is if I were Hillary, I would say don’t jump in. If I were Joe Biden, I would probably give it very serious consideration.”
Speculation grew on Saturday that Biden may soon challenge Clinton for the Democratic nomination as the vice president met with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a power broker among liberal Democrats.
Warren, who has strong support from liberal groups that would be critical to winning in early voting states, has said she will not run for president herself, but she has not endorsed Clinton or any other Democratic candidate.
Josh Alcorn, a senior adviser for Draft Biden 2016, a Super PAC group that is laying groundwork for a potential run, said the vice president was “sounding out people in early (primary election) states, activists and potential supporters.”
Meeting with Warren could help give Biden more ideas for making the US economy work better for middle-class Americans, he told Fox News Sunday.
If Biden decides to run, Alcorn said it would be important for him to announce his candidacy in time take part in the first Democratic debates in October.
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley said he had a “great deal of respect” for Biden. “It would be nice to have at least one more lifelong Democrat in the race,” the former Maryland governor told ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
The comment was partially a reference to independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-declared socialist from Vermont, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination. Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on Sunday told ABC’s “This Week” program that he would endorse Clinton in her bid to win the November 2016 presidential election, but said Biden would be a formidable candidate if he entered the race.
Reuters
