Joe Biden doesn’t have the Obamas’ endorsement, but they’ve already got his.
Breitbart reports that the Democrat presidential hopeful told voters in Iowa he would nominate Barack Obama to the Supreme Court if the former president would take it, and he would even consider former First Lady Michelle Obama to be his running mate. But it wouldn’t be nepotism, of course, since they’re both “incredibly qualified.”
Biden wants Barack for SCOTUS
Biden was fielding questions in Muscatine, Iowa on Tuesday when a voter asked whether he would nominate Obama to the highest court in the land. The former vice president didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“Yeah, I would, but I don’t think he’d do it,” Biden said of Barack. “He’d be a great Supreme Court justice.”
“The second question is, which Obama?” the voter coyly continued, to applause.
“Well, I sure would like Michelle to be the vice president,” Biden said. “They’re both incredibly qualified people… They’re such decent honorable people.”
Biden, America can’t get over the Obamas
Biden has previously suggested elevating both Obamas to positions of power if he wins the presidency. He joked to Stephen Colbert in September 2019 that he “only [asked Michelle] to be my vice president” when asked if he sought her advice, and he told voters in December that he would select the former president for the SCOTUS “if he’d take it,” according to the New York Post.
The former vice president didn’t explain what makes either Obama “qualified” to serve in either role, but Barack is a trained lawyer and former lecturer on constitutional law. His wife, also a former lawyer, has never held elected office.
Since leaving the White House, the Obamas have retired to a life of book writing, public speaking, and media production. Meanwhile, they continue to be enormously popular with Americans: a Gallup poll found that Barack Obama was tied with Donald Trump as the most admired man in America in 2019, and his wife is held in similar regard.
Michelle Obama, for her part, has long been dogged by speculation about her political ambitions, which she has continually dismissed. She recently won a Grammy award for the audiobook of her bestselling memoir, Becoming.
A former first lady has never been on a presidential ticket, according to the Post, which would make Ms. Obama’s selection a first. The only president to also serve on the Supreme Court was William Howard Taft.
For his part, President Obama nominated two Supreme Court justices, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. A third, Merrick Garland, was blocked by Senate Republicans; what would have been his seat was eventually filled by Neil Gorsuch, a Donald Trump appointee.
Biden gets no love from Barack
While Biden can’t seem to get over the Obamas, he hasn’t received their endorsement. A Politico report last year said that Barack doesn’t think Biden has an “intimate bond” with the electorate.
The same report said that the former president would personally intervene to stop Bernie Sanders from winning the nomination, a scenario that is seen as increasingly likely by many Democrats. Sanders is currently neck-and-neck with Biden in Iowa, which holds its long-awaited primary contest on Monday.
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