2024-07-22 12:23:11
Kamala Harris has the support of Joe Biden and of Bill Clintonwhile Barack Obama plays his cards in favor of his wife Michelle Obamabefore the decision to be made by the Democratic Convention. The vice president still does not have a clear path to obtain the nomination that would allow her to compete against Trump.
In this political scenario, the governors of Illinois and Michigan, J.B. Pritzker y Gretchen Whitmer respectively, remain in the race and will make their decision in the coming days.
Clinton and Obama are familiar with the political procedures in Washington, and each of the former presidents stuck to the script they were playing when the countdown began to end Biden’s candidacy.
The differences between Clinton and Obama
On the one hand, Clinton supported Biden until the last minute, while Obama was prescient in that decision. The press releases of the former presidents, when Biden had already acknowledged his fall, exposed their different strategies.
“Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we have to elect her,” posted Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton on social network X.
“I have extraordinary confidence that our party leaders will be able to create a process that will produce a standout candidate,” Obama said in his statement, without mentioning Harris.
The differences between Clinton and Obama reveal a deep internal conflict within the Democratic Party. Harris cannot afford to win the nomination at the Convention with the Biden-Clinton tandem, since so far she has only won delegates from her district – California – and the Congressional African American Caucus.
Each sector on its board
Biden’s support does not mean he has his delegates, and regarding campaign funds, there will be a long discussion to determine whether they belong to the official ticket or are directed to the Democratic Party until a candidate is designated at the Convention that will be held on August 19 in Chicago.
The Democratic Party also has a faction on the left that always nominates its own candidate. In 2016 against Hillary Clinton and in 2020 against Biden, that sector supported the candidacy of Bernie SandersIf they did it when there was a consensus candidate, it is very likely that they will do it again in 2024, given the internal crisis caused by Biden’s decline.
The bloc led by Obama is made up of Democrats who are positioned in the middle of the spectrum and have many votes in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Michigan, key states to defeat Trump in November. This bloc does not support Harris – in principle. And Obama’s statement avoiding her name is a clear signal. From this electoral perspective, the former president is looking for another candidate to add votes in three electoral groups that repel Harris’s political image.
The convention already has a date
Biden’s nominee fails to empathize with the independent working class in industrial states – like Trump’s running mate JD Vance – and has difficulty communicating with Hispanic voters who question the economic situation, and despite belonging to the African-American community, she will have a hard time convincing those voters who feel more comfortable with Republican promises.
The Convention will be on August 19 and the partisan contest is Biden-Clinton vs Obama.