President Obama comes out swinging in defense of Joe Biden

| 9:00 pm EST February 26, 2020
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President Obama has made a point of trying not to get involved in the 2020 Democratic primary process. That way, once we have a nominee, he can launch a full-on offensive on behalf of the nominee. But something has happened that has left Obama with no choice but to come out swinging in defense of one of the candidates.

How scared are the Republicans of Joe Biden’s potential comeback? They’re running smear ads against him in South Carolina right now, for the sole purpose of trying to prevent Biden from winning the state. The Republicans would much rather face a more divisive candidate like Sanders, and they’re putting their money where their mouth is by running ads which purport to show President Obama accusing Joe Biden of being a racist. Of course Obama never said any such thing, and that’s where the story picks up.

President Obama has sent a cease and desist letter to the TV stations in South Carolina that are running the ad, which consists of a deceptively edited version of his words. In his letter, Obama and his attorneys refer to the ad as “despicable.” What’s interesting here is that by trying to use Obama’s out-of-context words to smear Joe Biden, the Republicans have unwittingly prompted Obama to come out in defense of Biden. Obama’s letter has resulted in numerous major media outlets running stories about how Obama is defending Biden, which – considering Obama’s enduring popularity – is a huge gift to Biden.

We’ll see what happens in South Carolina. The latest poll numbers are all over the place, but they all show Joe Biden winning the state, by various margins. If Biden does win, it’ll be a sign that voters in diverse Super Tuesday states are also planning to turn out for him, and it’ll create a media narrative about Biden having momentum. And now, because the GOP blew it, Biden is getting headlines about President Obama defending his honor.