What Barack Obama really thinks of Kamala Harris (and why it might explain his silence)

Back in 2020, shortly after Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his pick for the vice-presidential nomination, the Biden/Harris campaign posted a short video on its social media channels. After that November’s election, when Biden and Harris emerged victorious, former first lady Michelle Obama tweeted her congratulations: “I’m beyond thrilled that my friend Joe Biden and our first Black and Indian-American woman vice-president, Kamala Harris, are headed to restore some dignity, competence, and heart at the White House. After Biden announced his withdrawal, he threw his support behind Harris, saying picking her as his vice-president was the best decision he’d made, and offering his “full support and endorsement” in her own presidential run. “Kamala Harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute – and I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November.” But despite Obama writing an affectionate tribute to his own former vice-president and friend Biden – in which he called him a “patriot of the highest order” – the only reference to what would come next was the following line: “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.” Happy birthday to a thoughtful, compassionate, and relentless leader—the one and only @KamalaHarris. “With the Democratic convention due to take place in his hometown of Chicago, I’m sure he’s just letting the party do its thing; letting those who have been elected run the party.” Like Obama, throughout Harris’s career, there have been so many firsts, encompassing race, and in her case, gender Like Obama, Harris was raised by her mother after her parents separated.