Former President Barack Obama on Friday urged voters to support President Biden in November’s presidential election, despite Biden’s poor performance in the previous night’s debate.
“Debate night can be the worst. Trust me, I know,” Obama said. Posts “But this election is a choice between someone who has spent their whole life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only thinks about themselves. It’s a choice between someone who will tell the truth, know right from wrong and be honest with the American people, and someone who will lie for their own gain,” he said on social media platform X.
“Last night was no different, and that’s why so much is at stake in November,” he added, linking to Biden’s campaign website.
Obama’s endorsement comes as some Democrats are panicking about their prospects in November following Biden’s brutal loss to former President Trump in Thursday night’s debate hosted by CNN.
The president’s voice was raspy for much of the 90 minutes and his speech frequently stammered, at times losing his train of thought and struggling to get his points across clearly.
A CNN poll found that 67% of viewers said Trump won the debate.
Obama was famously criticized for his performance in the first debate of the 2012 presidential election against then-Republican candidate Mitt Romney, before going on to win the election.
White House and Biden campaign officials on Friday sought to dispel the notion that the president would step aside or withdraw from the race.
Among the Democrats sounding the alarm about Biden’s performance were several former Obama administration aides.
“Obviously the debate was awful,” posted Jon Favreau, a former Obama administration speechwriter and co-host of “Pod Save America.” Friday Morning X. “We have to beat Donald Trump. We have to field a candidate who can do that.”
