To me, there was no doubt that the Obamas had failed to experience the “joy” of the Kamala Harris campaign. How else can we explain their lackluster support for Harris’ campaign over the summer? Presidential endorsements are a big deal; especially when it’s filled with the “history-making” optics of one African-American Democrat passing the torch to another (and let’s not forget that Harris is also Indian-American and a woman). So Obama’s seal of approval was crucial, and by July 26 it had expired.
When it finally happened, it was nothing short of stopping the show. Instead of Harris appearing onstage with Barack and Michelle at a campaign rally or even on the White House lawn, the Obamas literally voiced their support. They delivered the 2024 equivalent, a pre-recorded video distributed by the Harris team on social media. And it felt as personal and intimate as a voicemail left by a mediocre connection on Tinder.
Earlier this week, Michelle and I called our friend. @KamalaHarris. We told him that we believed he would be a great President of the United States and that he had our full support. At this critical moment for our country, we will do everything we can to ensure it wins… pic.twitter.com/0UIS0doIbA
– Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 26, 2024
Lukewarm and downright lazy, the episode set the tone for the couple’s relationship with the Harris campaign; As the vice president struggles across the finish line, it appears they are trying to overhaul that relationship. Now, just weeks before Election Day, Barack is scolding black men for not supporting Harris, while Michelle will sit down with the vice president in Georgia and Michigan next week.
Will it work? The problem is, as with the Obamas in July, voters (of all colors) don’t seem to be buying what Harris is selling. For all this unparalleled Obama star power, the former first couple hijacked their moment of truth to make the Harris campaign their own. After all, Michelle managed to show up at the California Costco last month to promote her new healthy drink, but she’s only coming to Harris now? Where is the brotherhood in this?
Kamala Harris first approached Barack Obama during the Democratic National Convention in August when she accepted her party’s nomination for that election.
After weeks of media reports that the couple was counting on Joe Biden to leave the presidential race, both he and his wife, Michelle, gave speeches that were greeted with enthusiastic applause by Democratic delegates.
Now they’re becoming a fixture at the campaign hearing. Mr. Obama met with Ms. Harris in Michigan on Friday, and other events with them are planned in the coming weeks.
It’s clear why the Harris campaign enlisted the Obamas in these final weeks of the campaign. Mr. Obama is one of the most electorally successful Americans ever, and polls show Ms. Harris’s support is weakening among black men, a constituency she is well-suited to appeal to.
During debates over who would replace Mr. Biden, Ms. Obama was consistently ranked by Democrats as the preferred candidate ahead of Ms. Harris.
What’s less obvious is that the superstar political couple will do anything to help this time.
Both come from an era before Donald Trump, whose seductive brand of populism and machismo upended the Democratic Party’s coalition of blue-collar voters and liberals.
Mr. Obama made his name as an Illinois senator with a remarkable talent for upbeat rhetoric, but over the past eight years politics has been so divided that negative campaigning has been the name of the game.
The Obamas now directly criticize Trump when they speak and echo Ms. Harris’s doomed messages about the threat he poses to democracy.
This line of argument has not proven effective in winning back the support of voters who have flipped to Trump over the past four years; many of these voters find his message of national renewal more appealing.
There are also differences in the way Ms. Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican-American heritage, thinks and talks about race.
Mr. Obama has a complicated legacy, but he is rightly remembered as the first black man to reach the White House.
Ms. Harris, meanwhile, is avoiding the topic of her ethnicity for fear of discouraging intolerant voters. The fact that she is a characteristic woman whom Hillary Clinton put at the center of her campaign is similarly ignored.
It’s also unclear whether the Obamas can help Ms. Harris address the biggest issue facing her campaign: voters distrusting her on the economy or immigration.
Mr. Obama is remembered for passage of the Affordable Care Act and other work on Social Security, but his record on immigration has been largely forgotten. If the topic comes up in political discussions, it’s usually to point out that he, too, has faced numerous illegal crossings along the southern U.S. border.
His economic credit for America’s recovery after the economic collapse of 2008 does not easily translate to an era when inflation, not growth, is the main topic of discussion.
In short, the Obamas are good at reminding voters that they once supported a progressive and optimistic party he led and is now represented by Ms. Harris.
They’re unlikely to do him much harm on the campaign trail, but their political appeal doesn’t carry the weight it once did. Whatever the problem with Harris’ campaign, the Obamas are not the solution.