Failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and failed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have fallen all over themselves in their highly public campaign to become Joe Biden’s running mate, but the one women he really wants would never agree to the job.
On Monday, Biden wholeheartedly admitted that, like the rest of the Democratic Party, he’d take Michelle Obama on the ticket “in a heartbeat.” The problem is that she’d never, ever agree to it.
The former first lady is the most admired woman in America, and if she wanted to be the Democratic nominee for president, not vice president, she would already be. Obama repeatedly topped early polling for the 2020 primary, and as recently as the end of October, half of all Democrats polled by Fox News said that they would “definitely” vote for her if she made a late entry into the primary. Another 39% said they’d consider it. In contrast, Biden earned 31% support.
And still, even as Obama has repeatedly rejected the notion, everyone from the backrooms of the DNC to Tucker Carlson has speculated that she’s secretly angling an upgrade from the East Wing to the West Wing.
But consider this: The top job was hers for the taking, and she let it go. Why would she sign up to be bumbling Biden’s understudy instead?
The real reason: Mrs. O truly doesn’t like politics. She’s said so for years, and she was telling the truth. Her bestselling memoir is nearly a manifesto against the trade. Maybe now that she’s willingly rejected a ticket back into the White House, people will finally believe her.
