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Barack Obama feels Joe Biden doesn't connect with voters, plans to stop Bernie Sanders from bagging Democratic nomination: Report

The former president has said that he will not intervene in the Democrats’ primary race to help or hurt a candidate
UPDATED FEB 13, 2020
Barack Obama (Source: Getty Images)
Barack Obama (Source: Getty Images)

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, Democratic Party supporters are keeping a close watch on former president Barack Obama. Whoever he chooses as the party’s towering personality among the crowded Democratic platform will have a huge advantage over his/her rivals. Obama hasn’t yet endorsed any of the candidates from his party who are aspiring to occupy the White House in 2021.  

According to a report in the ‘Politico’ magazine on November 26, Obama hinted at how he felt about this year’s top candidates like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders and his take was not positive. The 58-year-old, who made history in 2008 by becoming the first black to win an American presidency, recently met a Democratic primary candidate and said that he had shared an intimate bond with the voters, especially in Iowa, during his 2008 campaign but no longer. 

Obama then said without mincing a word that he felt Biden “really doesn’t have it” to connect with the voters. For Biden’s supporters, this could come as a shock since he paired up with Obama in the White House as the vice president between 2009 and 2017. The two men had also competed for the presidential position in the past but despite the competition, they are known to be close. But Obama’s assertion earlier this year that "new blood" is needed in political leadership established that the former president was not ready to vouch for the 76-year-old Biden. 

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 16: U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden share a laugh as the US Senior Men's National Team and Brazil play during a pre-Olympic exhibition basketball game at the Verizon Center on July 16, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Obama, as the report suggested, is holding a number of private meetings with the Democratic Party aspirants for 2020 and that puts to rest the theory that he is taking less interest in the big battle that according to many, could mark a make-or-break moment in the life of America. 

Publicly, Obama has said that he will not intervene in the Democrats’ primary race to help or hurt a candidate unless he witnesses some extreme conditions like a wicked attack coming up. 

“I can't even imagine with this field how bad it would have to be for him to say something”, one of Obama’s aides was quoted as saying by the ‘Politico’ report. 

An exception 

There is also an exception to prove the rule. Obama is reportedly against Sanders winning the Democratic nomination and expressed his mind when the Vermont senator appeared to be taking giant strides towards it. According to the report, when Sanders was doing great to become a potential Democratic nominee, Obama said privately that if he was running away with the nomination, he would speak up to stop his run. 

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) (L) walks with President Barack Obama (R) through the Colonnade as he arrives at the White House for an Oval Office meeting June 9, 2016 in Washington, DC. Sanders met with President Obama after Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic nomination for president. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

However, when asked about it, a spokesperson for Obama pointed out the former president saying recently that he would support the candidate who wins the primary election. There was clearly a sense of hesitation prevailing over Obama’s lack of support for Sanders even if his aides did not say it clearly. There are also opinions that Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist, is not a Democrat.

Obama has met a number of Democratic candidates recently but not Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and entrepreneur Andrew Yang even though they belong to the top 10 hopefuls. 
 
Obama usually gives three pieces of advice to the candidates in private meetings: asking the aspirants not to run if they are not sure that they are the best person for the job, to be sure about how a presidential campaign will affect their family, and to ask themselves whether they can win the challenge. 

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