This Tuesday, shortly after Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, who was the last major candidate in the race, former President Barack Obama — who Biden served alongside — came out with his own formal endorsement of his former second-in-command as well. In the video message that he issued endorsing Biden, Obama also offered praise for Sanders and the political movement that he has led, which has helped propel issues like expanding health care access to the front of the political conversation.
Obama commented:
‘Now Joe will be a better candidate for having run the gauntlet of primaries and caucuses alongside one of the most impressive Democratic fields ever. Each of our candidates were talented and decent, with a track record of accomplishment, smart ideas and serious visions for the future. And that’s certainly true of the candidate who made it farther than any other — Bernie Sanders.’
Sanders and Biden have significant distance between them on a number of issues. Sanders, for instance, wants to institute a national government-backed health care system that would replace private insurance and ensure access to often lifesaving medical care for all who need it. Biden — and other Democrats — advocate for a more moderated approach that institutes a wider publicly funded health care option while leaving the private insurance industry mostly in place.
Obama acknowledged some of these differences between his side and Sanders in his message this week. He commented:
‘Bernie’s an American original — a man who has devoted his life to giving voice to working people’s hopes, dreams, and frustrations. He and I haven’t always agreed on everything, but we’ve always shared a conviction that we have to make America a fairer, more just, more equitable society.’
By mid-March, the most feverish part of the contest between Biden and Sanders, who were the last major candidates in the Democratic presidential primary, had begun to falter. Biden won with significant leading margins in a wide array of states on both the primary-packed “Super Tuesday” on March 3 and the following Tuesday, when a smaller but still significant number of states also voted on the same day. Most of the candidates on the moderate wing of the party abruptly dropped out prior to Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden in what seemed like a last ditch effort to propel his candidacy over the top.
As Obama put it this week, referring to Sanders:
‘We both know that nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. And the ideas he’s championed, the energy and enthusiasm he inspired, especially in young people, will be critical in moving America in a direction of progress and hope.’
Pre-Coronavirus pandemic contests ended up with absolutely huge turnout, suggesting that Democrats are amped up to head to the polls in November and take on Trump. In the state of Virginia alone, which Biden won, turnout surged to almost twice its 2016 level in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. High turnout could be crucial to ensuring that Trump does not get re-elected.
