There has been ample speculation that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris either will not run for re-election in 2024 or be handily defeated by the Republican nominee, which has some Democrats and liberal pundits scrambling in search of a suitable replacement who could achieve electoral success.
Failed 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s name has been floated in that regard, but a recent op-ed from The Hill proclaimed that former first lady Michelle Obama is the better choice in a “break glass in case of emergency” situation for Democrats.
If not Biden and Harris, then who?
That op-ed, penned by former GOP campaign worker turned media pundit Myra Adams, first outlined the dismal outlook for 2024 for President Biden and VP Harris and the likelihood that Republicans would nominate either former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), each of whom could pose a formidable challenge for the White House.
The speculation about Clinton was also mentioned, but Adams wrote that Clinton “pales in comparison” to Michell Obama, at least in terms of being a presidential candidate, and proceeded to list off several reasons why the widely popular Obama could be the best possible choice for Democrats in the next presidential election cycle.
It was also duly noted that, given the weak current leadership and lack of clear prospects on the bench, Democrats could become “desperate enough” to try and enlist the former first lady into a presidential bid, perhaps by appealing to her “patriotism” — more likely her partisanship — in defending liberal America from Trump or DeSantis.
Reasons why an Obama candidacy could prove successful for Democrats
As for the reasons why Adams believed Obama would be the best choice for Democrats in 2024, those included the fact that she would likely clear the field of any other challengers, avoiding a messy primary fight, and would bring in droves of supporters due to her popularity, to say nothing of the massive fundraising hauls she would undoubtedly earn.
It was also noted that Obama is already highly involved in the 2022 midterm elections, drumming up support for Democrats and pushing for more Americans to get registered to vote. On top of that, she also has very little “obvious baggage” or scandals and would enjoy overwhelming support from the mainstream media that already “slobbers” all over her.
Of course, conservative media and candidates would launch political attacks against Obama, but she — with help from the aforementioned liberal media — could use her gender and skin color as an effective shield of supposed oppressed victimhood and counter any criticism, justifiable or not, as nothing more than “racism” and “sexism.”
Then there is the fact that she could run on a platform of being a “third term” for her husband, former President Barack Obama, who had, perhaps jokingly, confessed to late-night “comedian” Stephen Colbert in November 2020 that he was open to an “arrangement” in which he essentially still served as president behind a “stand-in” who would take care of “all the talking and ceremony” on his behalf.
Highly unlikely to happen
All of that said, it has seemed unlikely that Michelle Obama would enter the political arena with a presidential bid, and any such “rumor” to that regard was “baseless” and untrue speculation, according to an article from leftist Salon in January.
First of all, Obama has repeatedly and emphatically stated that she has no interest or desire in running for any political office, much less the presidency, and there has been no serious chatter or scuttlebutt in that regard from those who would most likely know, such as the circle of insiders around Obama or “reliable Democratic sources.”
In the end, the chances that Michelle Obama runs for president in 2024 seem exceedingly small, but as Adams suggested, if Democrats facing the prospect of defeat begin to feel “desperate enough” ahead of that election, they may well decide to declare an emergency and “break the glass” to draft her into a campaign.
