Barack Obama roared back into presidential politics by endorsing Joe Biden on Tuesday as Democrats work to unify ahead of a nasty general election campaign against President Donald Trump made trickier by the coronavirus pandemic and a worsening economy.
The party’s most popular leader, outshone perhaps only by his wife, Michelle, gave his approval less than a week after Biden’s last opponent, Bernie Sanders, bowed out. It was a carefully choreographed duet to benefit the presumptive nominee, who is struggling for attention while hamstrung by stay-at-home orders.
With the Clintons more polarizing than they’ve ever been and former President Jimmy Carter unfamiliar to younger voters, Obama, at 58, is the party’s elder statesman who can win over fractious Democratic groups.