Will she?
Won’t she?
Run for office, that is.
As Joe Biden’s mental acuity has declined rapidly over the past year (and let’s face it, it didn’t exactly start out all that high to begin with), speculation has run rampant about whether the DNC will look to replace him before the 2024 General Election.
The top two contenders expected by everyone are Michelle Obama and Gavin Newsom.
Personally, I have always felt like we would get Barack Obama’s 4th Term with a Michelle run. And I still do, even in light of today’s news which we’re getting to.
So far, nothing has happened, but it isn’t stopping the speculation.
So today Michelle Obama’s Office responded to the rumors.
Ok, first of all I have to ask: what in the world is “Michelle Obama’s Office”?
The very fact that she HAS an “Office” (which I assume means a massive team of people running things for her) tells me she is absolutely still a contender.
But her “Office” has responded and claims she will not be running:
Michelle Obama formally announces that she will not be running for president, other words she will definitely be the 2024 Democrat candidate https://t.co/V6J4fJWBNS
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) March 5, 2024
NBC News had more details:
Former President Barack Obama has said he’s “all in” for President Joe Biden’s re-election effort. But a question nagging at many Democrats is what role his popular spouse might play.
Democrats nervously looking ahead to November say they want to see Michelle Obama playing a bigger role in the campaign. Some even whisper about the possibility that she might replace a politically hobbled incumbent on the 2024 ticket this summer — making her a fantasy candidate for members of both parties, albeit for different reasons.
Supporters of Republican front-runner Donald Trump have fixated on the notion of Obama’s swooping in to replace Biden in attempt to diminish the president’s political viability and stoke the GOP base.
In a statement to NBC News, the former first lady’s office tried to rein in imaginations on the right and the left, making it clear her 2024 plans don’t include running for office.
“As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president,” said Crystal Carson, director of communications for her office. “Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign.”
Sources familiar with the discussions say she intends to assist the Biden campaign this fall, as she did four years ago. But as in 2020, her engagement is likely to be fairly limited compared to that of her husband, reflecting both her other commitments and her long-standing reluctance to re-enter the political fray full time, the sources said.
The expectation of many close to Biden is that, given the former first lady’s star power, the Biden campaign will seek to maximize her limited role later in the campaign, when more swing voters will be paying attention to the race. A senior Biden adviser said there have been early conversations with Obama’s team about campaign engagements and noted that an obvious area of “alignment” with her is her nonpartisan voter registration group, When We All Vote, which aims to promote turnout and close the registration gap among young voters and people of color.
“President and Michelle Obama were enormously helpful in the fight to beat Donald Trump and elect President Biden and Vice President Harris the first time and we are grateful to have their voice and their support in the fight for the fate of our democracy this November,” Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement.
An aide to Obama pointed to her discussion last year with Oprah Winfrey to reflect her thinking still today — and why she would most likely never appear on a ballot herself.
“Politics is hard,” she said in the Netflix special. “And the people who get into it … you’ve got to want it. It’s got to be in your soul, because it is so important. It is not in my soul.”
In a 2022 BBC interview, she also said she “detests” questions about running for president.
But in at least one instance, the former first lady appeared not to want the idea of her holding public office ruled out entirely.
Amid speculation about Biden’s potential running mate in the summer of 2020, CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota suggested in an interview with Jill Biden: “Maybe former first lady Michelle Obama?”
Jill Biden laughed. “You know, I’d love it if Michelle would agree to it. But I — you know, I think she’s had it with politics. I don’t know. She’s so good at everything she does. That would — that would be wonderful,” she said.
People close to Obama weren’t happy that Jill Biden foreclosed the option and wanted her to give a different answer if she is asked a similar question in the future, according to two people familiar with the matter. An ally of the former first lady called top Biden campaign adviser Anita Dunn, sharing the view that it wasn’t the right response, these people said.
New talking points that Obama’s office proposed would affirm that she would be great at anything she chose to do and say that she was a terrific first lady and that the Biden team is grateful for the work she’s doing at When We All Vote, according to the people familiar with the matter. They said the response was crafted to not make it sound as though Obama would never hold public office, which the former first lady’s aides thought Jill Biden did in her CNN interview.
“It doesn’t close the door,” a person familiar with the drafting of the new statement said, “and that’s what prompted Michelle’s office to call.”
Many have pointed out the statement relies on carefully parsed words….
I certainly agree that SHE doesn’t intend to run!
“Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s office shut down reports on Tuesday morning that she intends to run for president.”https://t.co/TP5mJyn1pX
— Lenny Dykstra (@LennyDykstra) March 5, 2024
In other words, she “doesn’t intend to run” now but that could certainly change.
Will it change?
Michelle Obama does not intend to run for US President in 2024, despite numerous rumors, her office said.
NBC reports that the ex-president's wife intends to help Biden's presidential campaign this fall, as she did four years ago. pic.twitter.com/dmYx0UtP7u
— S p r i n t e r (@Sprinter99800) March 5, 2024
My take?
I’m still not ruling it out.
The Obamas are far too powerful and I don’t see them walking away or ceding power to the Newsom family.
It is still WAY too early in the year for decisions like this to be seriously made, and many things can change.
I still put the odds at 50/50….50% Michelle, 50% Newsom.
But let me hear from you….
NATIONAL POLL : Would You Vote For Michelle Obama For President in 2024?
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