A giant pop could be heard across America as former first lady Michelle Obama revealed whether she would step in to replace sagging President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket this fall.
Last week, a Rasmussen Reports poll found that 48 percent of the Democrats surveyed wished their party had a different candidate running for president, according to the New York Post.
When asked who they might want to replace him, Michelle Obama topped a list that included Vice President Kamala Harris, failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
But hold off on the lawn signs and bumper stickers.
In a statement to NBC News that burst thousands of hope balloons, Michelle Obama’s office said her plans do not include the Oval Office.
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“As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president,” Crystal Carson, director of communications for her office, told the outlet.
“Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign,” she said.
Speculation that Michelle Obama might step in has raged for months.
In September, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas predicted the former first lady could be a last-minute replacement for Biden.
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“So here’s the scenario that I think is perhaps the most likely and most dangerous,” Cruz said on his “Verdict” podcast. “In August of 2024, the Democrat kingmakers jettison Joe Biden and parachute in Michelle Obama.”
“I view this as a very serious danger,” he said.
However, Cruz added, “I also think Michelle is not all that eager to run for president.”
On that, the former first lady and the senator apparently agree.
NBC News referenced a comment from a Netflix special with Oprah Winfrey in which Obama talked about politics.
“Politics is hard. 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,” she said.
However, the network also reported that in 2020, when talk of her running for president surfaced, her camp was miffed when future first lady Jill Biden said Michelle Obama had “had it with politics.”
The Biden camp was then given new wording for a response to questions about Michelle Obama that would not seem to foreclose any plans she might ever have to run for office, NBC News reported.
“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,” the report said.
“They said the response was crafted to not make it sound as though Obama would never hold public office.”
