Perhaps hoping to recycle old bumper stickers from 2008 and 2016, some in the Democrat Party are dreaming of another Obama-Biden ticket in 2020. With presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden having already promised to pick a woman for the vice-presidential spot, some in the party are pulling for former first lady Michelle Obama to be Biden’s pick.
Mrs. Obama is certainly the first pick of race hustler Reverend Al Sharpton, who spoke to Politico about the possibility. When former Vice President Biden said he would choose a woman, she’s considered by most Americans of all races and all economic backgrounds to be the ultimate woman,” Sharpton said. “Look at her book sales. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone write a book that can fill arenas. She has packed more arenas than Donald Trump.”
While acknowledging that the former first lady doesn’t want the job, Sharpton claims that he even includes the possibility in his prayers, right after he prays for his family and the health of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “God, if you could change her mind, it would help us a lot,” Sharpton allegedly prays.
Mrs. Obama has repeatedly said that she has no interest in running for office. In her 2018 memoir Becoming, she lays it out quite clearly: “I’ll say it here directly: I have no intention of running for office, ever.”
But that declaration hasn’t stopped embattled Democrats from hoping that her star power alone could save the party and offset the gaffe prone, scandal plagued Biden at the top of the ticket.
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Mrs. Obama is routinely listed as one of the most admired women in the world. Her book sales have topped the 10 million mark, and she routinely sold out shows promoting the book. There’s no question she’s a popular woman. Even Biden agrees that Mrs. Obama would bring a certain “wow” factor to the campaign, telling Pittsburgh’s KDKA television on Monday: “I would take her in a heartbeat…. She’s brilliant. She knows the way around. She is really a fine woman. The Obamas are great friends.”
But even Biden acknowledged the problem: “I don’t think she has any desire to live near the White House again.”
Those close to Mrs. Obama agree. Former advisor to President Obama and long-time family friend Valerie Jarrett — whose relationship with the Obamas goes back to Chicago in the early 1990s — said there was “no chance” that Mrs. Obama would accept a vice-presidential nod.
“The reason why I’m being so unequivocal is that there just simply has never been a time when she’s expressed an interest in running for office,” Jarret told The Hill “She’s not demurring here. She’s not playing hard to get. She doesn’t want the job.”
Instead, the former first lady is concentrating on her voter registration program When We All Vote, which Obama claims is non-partisan but is pushing an expansion of mail-in voting, an issue loved by Democrats because of the expanded opportunity for election fraud that comes with it.
Still, that doesn’t stop high profile Democrats from musing about the possibility of another Obama in the White House. Former Virginia governor and Bill and Hillary Clinton acolyte Terry McAuliffe knows Mrs. Obama’s star power first hand.
“When I ran for governor in 2013, I had everyone helping me, but I put a picture of myself and Michelle Obama in every one of my general election flyers. And I didn’t just use it in African American communities. I used it in every part of the state because she’s so popular,” McAuliffe said.
Biden’s current short list of potential VP picks is said to include Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kamala Harris of California, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada; Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico; and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
But none of them, including former campaign rival Warren, could bring the star power of Mrs. Obama.
Nostalgia can be nice, and no one can fault Democrats for wanting to recapture some of that old Obama magic of yesteryear. But while there’s no doubt that Mrs. Obama is popular, she is also not without flaws. This is the same woman who in 2008, while her husband was running for president, said, “For the first time in my life, I am really proud of my country.”
A leader whose pride in her country appears to be conditioned upon the race of the person running for president is not someone we should want in the White House.
Photo: AP Images
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects, with a primary focus on the ongoing anthropogenic climate-change hoax and cultural issues. He can be reached a [email protected]
