Former President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, dined at the same restaurant as former Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, but in separate rooms, Jim Geraghty of the National Review reported. Many believe this signals a rift between the two couples, following dashed hopes for a Harris presidency in 2024.
Harris was a last-minute swap out for the Democrats after then-President Joe Biden withdrew from his re-election bid. Democrats were eager to hold onto the White House, and Obama thought he could work his magic by stumping for her at the last minute after initially declining to do so.
In a video shared to X, formerly Twitter, in October 2024, Obama said that "Kamala Harris is ready for the job." Unfortunately, the American people did not agree and instead elected President Donald Trump, and Democrats have not forgiven Harris for losing to him.
.@KamalaHarris has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a champion. She was raised in a middle class family, and actually cares about what other people are going through.
That’s the kind of president we need. pic.twitter.com/2vDkqrAmUg
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 25, 2024
Anonymous sources reported that both couples were spotted dining out at the State Road restaurant on Thursday night. At one point, they greeted each other and chatted briefly, but chose not to dine together, which Geraghty pointed out is a sign that tension still exists between the Democrats.
"Life comes at you fast. One moment you’re leading in the polls and on the path to be the next president of the United States," Geraghty wrote.
"The next minute, the Obamas are hoping you won’t notice they’re in the same restaurant as you." Geraghty believes the tension dates back to 2013, when Barack Obama called Harris the "best-looking attorney general in the country."
This remark reportedly upset Michelle Obama, not just because her husband made it but because Harris refused to comment publicly about it. Barack Obama eventually called Harris to apologize, but the damage was already done long before Harris lost the White House.
"Apparently, in the interim decade, the Obamas never grew that impressed with the vice president and didn’t think Harris should be handed the Democratic nomination without a fight," Geraghty went on. "Harris called Barack Obama the afternoon that Joe Biden withdrew from the race, hoping for an endorsement; he declined. The Obamas eventually endorsed her in a video that was entirely stage-managed by the couple," the senior political correspondent and author noted.
After Election Day in November, the truth about former President Joe Biden's mental health began to seep through, as did the unpopularity of Harris among Democrats. According to News Nation, Democratic megadonor John Morgan said that Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi objected to Harris taking over for Biden as the eleventh-hour replacement, which is precisely why he nominated her on his way out.
"He did not want to go gently," Morgan said of Biden on Cuomo in November 2024. "He nominated her, basically, Obama did not want her. Obama did not endorse her for five days, Pelosi did not want her," Morgan went on.
In fact, Morgan believes Biden thumbed his nose at Obama and Pelosi by endorsing his vice president and thus closing off the possibility of another primary. "'I think it was to say, F you to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama and every representative that was pushing him out… and I think he was pissed," Morgan told the host Chris Cuomo.
"Pelosi told her California delegation, there will be a conference, there will be a caucus, there will be a convention. We basically ran on this deal where ‘democracy, democracy!’ And then we didn’t have democracy in picking our nominee," Morgan noted.
Harris was not the candidate that anyone asked for, and her unpopularity led to a spectacular loss. Barack Obama likely believes his own hype that he was a transformative leader who set the Democrats up for success for generations to come, and now he blames Harris for squandering that.
