Former US Vice President and current Democratic hopeful Joe Biden has reaffirmed his desire to see former First Lady Michelle Obama as his running mate for the country’s 2020 presidential election scheduled for November.
“I'd take her in a heartbeat. She's brilliant. She knows the way around. She is a really fine woman”, Biden told the CBS-owned KDKA television station on Monday.
Even so, he underscored that “we're just beginning the process” of selecting a vice president.
“I'll commit to that be a woman because it is very important that my administration look like the public, look like the nation. And we will be committed that there will be a woman of colour on the Supreme Court, but it doesn't mean there won't be a vice president, as well”, Biden added.
Netizens remained at loggerheads over the remarks, with some praising Michelle Obama as a “great choice” and arguing that “we’d all love that combo”.
Others were not that optimistic, with one Twitter user arguing that picking Michelle Obama would be “a sign of desperation” and other netizen pointing to her personal stance on the matter. In a best-selling memoir released in 2018, the ex-First Lady, in particular, stressed that she has “no intention of running for office, ever”.
Biden’s KDKA interview comes a week after Barack Obama endorsed the Democratic contender for the presidency, saying in a statement that he believes that “Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now”.
Obama also applauded Biden as having played a leading role in managing two previous potential epidemic threats and helping to prevent them from becoming the kind of national crisis that the coronavirus now presents.
The former US president’s remarks came after Biden said during a campaign stop in Iowa in late January that he “sure would like Michelle [Obama] to be the vice president”, touting the former First Lady and her husband as “incredibly qualified, decent and honorable people”.
Since Senator Bernie Sanders wrapped up his bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination earlier in April, Biden remains the last standing presidential hopeful to challenge incumbent Donald Trump in the elections on 3 November.