President Joe Biden’s mysterious announcement that his reelection campaign is over has drawn comparisons to the politics of 1968, but Peter Schweitzer sees another similarity: the politics of 2008.
Schweitzer calls it the “Obama coup” on the latest episode of his podcast, “Drill Down.”
There are rumors in Washington that former President Barack Obama is privately steering the former vice president’s administration — he’s even said he’d like to do it for a “third term” — but the two men were known to have had significant rifts even before Obama decided to endorse Hillary Clinton over Biden for president in 2016.
As Democrats try to rally their base around a rotating running mate in Kamala Harris, it’s interesting to compare the history of both candidates with President Obama.
“You have to understand that Barack Obama never really liked Joe Biden. Biden was imposed on him when he ran for president in 2008, and the Democratic leadership said, ‘You’ve only been in the senate for a few years, we need someone experienced and seasoned,'” Schweitzer said. “So Joe Biden was kind of imposed on him.”
Meanwhile, Drill Down co-host Eric Eggers points out that Obama and Harris have been close for many years: “We’ve talked about this in the book.” Corruption Profile“The book talks about the fact that the Obamas and Kamala Harris were friends long before Barack Obama became a U.S. senator. She campaigned hard for him… and there was kind of a bond that developed,” Eggers says. “When she became district attorney for San Francisco, Barack Obama actually helped her pay off some of her debts. He raised money for local elections in San Francisco as a senator for Illinois. So they had this connection and relationship beforehand.”
The two were so close that President Obama was allowed to joke, while speaking for Harris, that “she also happens to be the most handsome attorney general in the country.” When Harris herself ran for Senate, media profilers began calling her the “female Obama.”
“I think what happened in this case was that it was Barack Obama who was the leader among former officials arguing behind the scenes that Joe Biden needed to resign,” Schweitzer said.
Schweitzer and the Government Accountability Institute have been covering Kamala Harris’ political cronyism and funding for years. Eggers said in one of the show’s early episodes that Schweitzer Examining Harris’ career as a prosecutor in San Francisco and then as California’s attorney generalThe video details how Harris mishandled her responsibilities as a prosecutor while increasing her political profile and the people around her who benefited most from her actions.
When her San Francisco predecessor, Terence Hallinan, pursued cases against Catholic priests who sexually abused boys, Ms. Harris took a softer stance on prosecutions after she was elected, ending those investigations and also dropping cases against friends of her former lover, the powerful Willie Brown.
For more articles by Peter Schweitzer, Drill down Podcast.
