White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Wednesday doubled down on his earlier statement that the president may end up making an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary.
The statement caused a splash when Earnest first made it on Monday, an some political observers saw it as a sign of encouragement for Vice President Joe Biden to jump into the race and challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
Others suggested there was no possible way the president would be able to choose between Biden, his vice president and close ally, and Clinton, his former secretary of state.
Still, Earnest on Wednesday didn’t hesitate to repeat that Obama might indeed make a choice between the two rivals if Biden decides to run.
“I wouldn’t rule out a potential [presidential] endorsement in the Democratic primary at some point regardless of what the field looks like,” he told reporters at Wednesday’s briefing. But the only definite plans Obama has right now concerning the 2016 contest is to vote in the Illinois primary and strongly support whoever becomes the Democratic nomination, he said.
While Earnest declined to provide details of conversations Obama had had with Biden on the topic, he said both Clinton and Biden would make great presidents.
“I have not heard the president evaluate the merits of any candidates,” he said. “He has spoken quite warmly about Hillary Clinton … and there’s no doubt he thinks she would be an excellent president.”
When it comes to Biden, Earnest repeated Obama’s choice to tap him as his running mate was the “smartest political decision that he has made in his career in public service.”
“And I think you can reasonably conclude that one of the reasons you choose a running mate … you would expect them to step in in an emergency situation to run the country,” he said. “I think that should give you a good indication of Vice President Biden’s aptitude to become president of the United States.”
With Biden’s decades of public service, he has “certainly earned the right to make this decision without external pressure” and on his own timetable, Earnest added.
Biden, who met with Obama earlier Wednesday to receive the regular national security briefing, will address a conference call of hundreds of Democratic National Committee members to discuss the Iran nuclear deal Wednesday afternoon.
The DNC is holding its summer meeting this week, and while Biden doesn’t plan to attend, he will make his presence felt as he considers whether to run for the party’s 2016 nomination with the Iran deal conference call.
Reporters pressed Earnest on the timing of the call, asking whether it was an attempt by the White House to elevate his vice presidential role before the party faithful at a critical time.
Earnest said the conference call is a continuation of the role Biden has played in making a “very forceful case to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon.”
“The case the vice president makes [today] is something similar to the case he’s made before,” Earnest said, adding that his ongoing deliberations about whether to run for president have in no way impacted his ability to carry out his role as vice president.
