Barack and Michelle Obama have finally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democrat Party’s 2024 presidential nominee. But what took them so long? Glenn has a theory: their endorsement wasn’t free. Did the Obamas only endorse Harris after she agreed to let THEM choose her Vice President? Glenn explains why he believes that the Obamas wanted Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, not Harris, and may force him onto the 2024 ticket.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Well, we welcome back Mr. Stu Burguiere. Who was gone this week. And conveniently showed up just in time for big Mike to endorse Kamala Harris. But if you heard the endorsement from Michelle Obama and Barack Obama, it doesn't ring true to me. Let's play that endorsement.
BARACK: Kamala Harris.
KAMALA: Hi.
MICHELLE: Hey, there.
KAMALA: Oh. Hi, you're both together. It's good to hear you both.
MICHELLE: I can't have this phone call, without saying to my girl Kamala, I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.
BERNIE: We called to say, Michelle and I couldn't be prouder to endorse you, to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office.
KAMALA: Oh, my goodness. Michelle, Barack, this means so much to me. I'm looking forward to doing this with the two of you, Doug and I both. And getting out there, being on the road. But most of all, I just want to tell you, the -- the words that you have spoken and the friendship that you have given over all these years mean more than I can express. So thank you, both. It means so much.
And we're going to have some fun with this too, aren't we?
STU: I bet there's a good laugh they cut out of that one.
GLENN: Right.
STU: A good cackle.
GLENN: What did that cost her?
What did that cost her? That's a very transactional couple there.
STU: Yeah. Not nothing. I think you can be certain of that.
GLENN: Yeah. It wasn't like, yeah, you know what, Michelle. We've been thinking about it. And without any thought of calling anybody. Or making any deals. Or getting something for us, or anything that we want. You know, we just love you so much.
And we just want to give this to you, for free.
What did that cost her? My guess is, one of the pieces that it cost was Mark Kelly. Barack and Michelle want Mark Kelly. They do not want Kamala Harris. That's why he hadn't endorsed.
And he was hoping, that this would all go away, after Joe Biden endorsed Kamala.
Because I think Joe Biden did that as a slap across Michelle and Barack's face.
STU: It was also interesting.
GLENN: Because they did not want her.
STU: Not the original letter.
When I -- we were going live on YouTube. At Stu Does America. On YouTube. We've been going live on these big events. Even when I'm on vacation. When that happened, I read the letter. And the first thing I noticed was, it did not include an endorsement for Kamala Harris.
Which is odd, if you're going to do this big announcement, why wouldn't you include it in the thing that everybody was going to read?
He was, ten minutes later, 15 minutes later, he released a separate tweet that was just like, I endorsed Kamala. And it was odd the way it was rolled out. So it does sort of back maybe -- maybe they came out with this main letter for history purposes. And then, you know, he kind of just wanted to stick it to them. Because I don't think he likes the Obamas at all. I think he's very angry about this whole thing.
GLENN: Oh, no. I don't think he likes the Obamas at all. And I don't think they like him. And I think he knew the candidate they wanted was Mark Kelly. Not Kamala Harris. And I think that's why the endorsement came from a separate thing.Io, you drop out of the race, you make that very clear. Nothing else.
So he issued that letter.
And then he came out. And said, oh, and, by the way, I also endorsed Kamala.
STU: Maybe Hunter controlled the Twitter for a day.
GLENN: Maybe. And then Michelle and Barack were like, oh!
Now, listen, Michelle. I'll tell you, maybe, maybe. I mean, let's not get all bent out of shape. They're not going to jump all over that. And they jumped all over that.
And immediately, he need became rallying around Kamala Harris. And she's the one. He held back.
People wondered why. I think it's because of Mark Kelly. They wanted Mark Kelly to be the guy. Because they believe he's the winner. And I don't know. If they have a chance to turn on her and do a coup on her, they will. They will.
STU: I have so many questions.
GLENN: And Mark will be the guy.
STU: I have so many questions for you. Let me first back up what you're saying, about the Barack Obama part of this. I don't know if people really bothered to read his statement at the time.
But everyone -- this is after Biden comes out and says, I fully endorse Kamala Harris. And many of his competitors who were rumored to come after the nomination if he stepped down, had already endorsed Kamala Harris.
And this is the paragraph that Barack Obama writes. We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead, but have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party, will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.
Like, that is the farthest thing away from an endorsement of Kamala Harris you can possibly get. They did not want her.
I think it's blatantly clear. The only pushback on that, some reporting was, well, they don't want to endorse. Because they want to make it appear like it was an actual process to get to Kamala Harris. They must want to have their happened -- come on. Does anybody buy that? I guess my first question on your theory here is, why do you think Mark Kelly was such a big favorite of the Obama family?
Why would they signal him?
GLENN: Great question. Great question.
You cannot have -- as Barack Obama would say. Two exotics on the ticket. Okay?
Think of America as a husband and wife. Okay? And each party has a husband and wife element to them. So if you just listen to the husband, you would have a Ferrari and a Lambo in the garage, right? But if he's married, his wife says, you're not going to have a Ferrari and Lambo. It's not reasonable. We need -- you know, we need a Pacifica and an Accord. And he's like, good God, if I have to drive a Pacifica, I'm going to hang myself. I can't do that.
And so they'll compromise. You know, in the man's dream world, he has to pick between the Ferrari and the Lambo because they also have to have the Pacifica. Okay?
Mark Kelly is the Pacifica. She's the Ferrari. She's the one that you never know if it's going to break down. Good Lord, we don't know what it will cost us. You know what I mean?
It's not dependable. We need a Pacifica. And he is a -- he will be -- they have to have a patriot. They cannot continue to front this party with people who are known to hate America. Okay?
Can't. He's a white guy. You can't have two exotics, as Barack Obama would say. So you have a white guy who is dependable, who loves America, is super, super smart. Because you can't have two idiots on the ticket either. Well, they did that last time.
Well, maybe they've learned their lesson.
You can't have two idiots on the ticket either. Mark Kelly is the Pacifica.
STU: Hmm.
GLENN: Now, I think the Obamas wanted the Pacifica as the candidate. That's why he phrased what he did, in that, you know, hey. Thank you, Joe.
And, by the way, we look forward to a process, that will eliminate Kamala Harris. And give us something good.
And I think that person was Mark Kelly.
STU: That's really interesting.
Because I -- because, you know, one of the reasons why he's a Pacifica, if you will, is he's seen as a moderate Democrat. And he is moderate, in temperament. Right?
That is what he brings to the table. Very -- he feels like a moderate. The same way like, the 2020 version of Joe Biden was pitched that way. Right?
You could have a guy who was very calm. And he's a moderate. And he's just a guy from a working class community. He's served -- in Kelly's case. Served in the military. He's an astronaut. Come on. In reality, his voting record, is just as liberal as any of these other people.
And seems to have the same vision as so many other people on the left.
GLENN: So hang on just a second.
Let me explain just what you just said. Last time, the Pacifica was at the top of the ticket.
And they knew, we have to have a Lambo and a Ferrari. Something that is not necessarily dependable. But is flashy. And everybody is like, yeah!
All the dads would be -- you know what I mean?
In this car analogy. Like, we have to have one of those!
STU: Yeah.
GLENN: And that was Kamala. Now, she's at the top. So the Pacifica has to be the second one.
STU: I mean, it makes perfect sense.
You know, excuse me, came to the sort of Kelly conclusion as well. Based more on, like if you look at -- I do think the white guy -- the Pacifica thing is real. This is not real from my ideas or what I think. This is real from the reporting on Barack Obama's choice for vice president.
The reason why Joe Biden was picked was because he was old and white.
That is every piece of reporting from inside of that -- the -- that decision, that was Barack Obama, and Michelle, believed America was too racist, to have two exotics on the same ticket. These were their terms.
You needed to have one white guy, that the racists could sink their teeth into. And still be okay with this guy with the crazy name at the top of the ticket.
That's the way -- that's what they thought of America.
And it's quite clear, in so many of their comments. That's exactly what they thought in their comments. If you go back to the one, what was it know.
Pennsylvania voters. You have these people. They're angry. They're bitter. Clingers to their God and their Bible.
That's what they really believed about America.
Still believe about America. And so I think that white guy. The idea that they will pick Gretchen Whitmer. Or they will pick --
GLENN: She's another exotic.
STU: Yeah. Anything that has anything outside of white guy is I think outside of the picture.
99 percent chance of that.
GLENN: And I think it's important to say now, it also has to be somebody who at least appears to love the country. I'm not saying he doesn't.
But it cannot be somebody -- it can't be a always.
STU: Right. It's got to be somebody who has --
GLENN: It has to be somebody who is like, I don't mind Antifa.
STU: It has to be someone with moderate temperament. Which Kelly has. He seems like -- military guy. Astronaut. Hero. You all these things.
And I will say, one of the other things that I think is central to this. We just had a presidential assassination attempt. Where apparently someone flung glass with from a long distance, at the President Donald Trump when he was on stage.
GLENN: The New York Times just did a piece, an analysis and said, it's definitely a bullet.
STU: Yes, they did.
GLENN: Meanwhile, Christopher Wray testifies that, well, Trump. It's really up to him to prove that he's been shot. What!
STU: That's really weird. Even the Times is dismissing that nonsense.
GLENN: Now, wait. One more thing on that. I really do think it could have been a piece of glass. Because right at that moment, Kamala broke the glass ceiling. And so maybe --
STU: Wow, that should be the center part of her convention speech, I think.
GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.
STU: When Donald Trump was struck by glass.
But on the Kelly part of this, the -- I mean, there is obviously a sympathy for Donald Trump.
His -- you know, his approval ratings have gone up, at some level. To the highest they have been, in some of these polls, in recorded history.
There is -- that moment was iconic. And everybody knows it.
With Mark Kelly, he's married to Gabby Giffords.
Gabby Giffords was a congresswoman who had an assassination attempt against her. Like this was their big pitch to come to the American people to bring gun violence into the picture.
Remember, they were blaming Sarah page for this. Targeting her district.
It was that shooting.
They can come back and say. Well, look, their main pitch for this. Republicans are the violent ones.
They've obviously lost ground on that one. That argument is dead after the president was almost killed on stage. So now you have a situation where this can kind of disarm the other side of that.
They can say, it's not just left and right. It's gun violence, and bring the gun violence case back in. Which I think this is absolutely the group of people, who would come to such a -- just cold, calculating decision.
To say, we'll use her, and her tragedy, to try to fend off this assassination attempt, that we now have to, quote, unquote, deal with. And not to mention, you go through, this is also a swing state.
It was one of the closest states in 2020. Even though, it's not all that close at the moment. I think -- and they have a good relationship behind the scenes.
Kamala and Kelly have had a good working relationship for a long time.
That's how I came to the conclusion. It's different how you came to it.
It's interesting. It arrived to the same place.
It's terrifying. That means we're both definitely wrong.
GLENN: He could only pray.