In a 12-minute video that was a glimpse of what America used to look like when it had a compassionate, impassioned, courageous, loving president, former leader of the coronavirus-free world, Barack Obama endorsed his two-time running mate, former Vice President Joe Biden.
“If there’s one thing we’ve learned as a country from moments of great crisis, it’s that the spirit of looking out for one another can’t be restricted to our homes or our workplaces, or our neighborhoods or our houses of worship. It also has to be reflected in our national government,” Obama said.
“The kind of leadership that’s guided by knowledge and experience, honesty and humility, empathy and grace,” he continued. “That kind of leadership doesn’t just belong in our state capitols and mayor’s offices. It belongs in the White House. And that’s why I’m so proud to endorse Joe Biden for president of the United States.”
I know what you’re thinking, and I want you to stop it right now. Obama wanted to put his voice behind the eventual Democratic candidate and not before. Like, Bernie Sanders is on Obama’s limited Facebook friends list, but had he won the nomination, Obama would have endorsed him, too. And because Obama is a master politician, he had super nice things to say about Sanders because he knows that America suffers if Sanders’ supporters don’t come out and vote for Biden.
But what’s more important than an Obama endorsement might have been the heaping helpings of shade he spooned on to the Cleveland Browns of administrations.
From NBC Washington:
Because one thing everybody has learned by now is that the Republicans occupying the White House and running the U.S. Senate are not interested in progress. They’re interested in power. They’ve shown themselves willing to kick millions off their health insurance and eliminate preexisting condition protections for millions more, even in the middle of this public health crisis, even as they’re willing to spend a trillion dollars on tax cuts for the wealthy. They’ve given polluters unlimited power to poison our air and our water, and denied the science of climate change just as they denied the science of pandemics. Repeatedly, they’ve disregarded American principles of rule of law, and voting rights, and transparency – basic norms that previous administrations observed regardless of party. Principles that are the bedrock of our democracy.
So our country’s future hangs on this election. And it won’t be easy. The other side has a massive war chest. The other side has a propaganda network with little regard for the truth. On the other hand, pandemics have a way of cutting through a lot of noise and spin to remind us of what is real, and what is important. This crisis has reminded us that government matters. It’s reminded us that good government matters. That facts and science matter. That the rule of law matters. That having leaders who are informed, and honest, and seek to bring people together rather than drive them apart – those kind of leaders matter.
Obama then stood there staring into the camera as the crowd went apeshit:
We all knew that Obama’s endorsement was coming. Like that one black woman who hangs around with the Kardashians (don’t look at me like that; I know they’re twins—I mean the one who just had the baby by the “I’m in Love With Coco” rapper), Biden has been using his proximity to one of the most popular presidents to ever do it as a selling point with America. But this endorsement shows that Obama is willing to risk it all just to save America. He’s going to campaign hard for Biden.
“Barack — This endorsement means the world to Jill and me,” Biden tweeted Tuesday
“We’re going to build on the progress we made together, and there’s no one I’d rather have standing by my side.”
We know, Biden. We know.
Watch a real president below: