{"id":19377,"date":"2025-10-28T02:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T02:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/19377\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T02:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T02:08:09","slug":"obamas-reaction-to-nancy-pelosis-surprise-endorsement-of-kamala-harris-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/19377\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama\u2019s reaction to Nancy Pelosi\u2019s \u2018surprise\u2019 endorsement of Kamala Harris revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former President Barack Obama was \u201cnot happy\u201d with Rep. Nancy Pelosi\u2019s (D-Calif.)<\/a> quick endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris \u2014 and he let it be known in a phone call with the former House speaker, according to a new book.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pelosi described Harris as \u201cbrilliantly astute\u201d and expressed \u201cfull confidence\u201d <\/a>that the ex-California senator could defeat President Trump in her endorsement statement, which came less than 24 hours after Joe Biden ended his 2024 re-election bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obama, who preferred to let \u201ca process\u201d determine Trump\u2019s Democratic Party opponent, called Pelosi shortly after her endorsement to vent his frustration \u2014 having thought they were on the same page,\u00a0ABC News\u2019 Jonathan Karl wrote in \u201cRetribution,\u201d<\/a> out Tuesday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Obamas were not happy,\u201d a Pelosi confidant told Karl, according to an excerpt obtained by the Daily Mail<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis person summed up Obama\u2019s message to Pelosi as, essentially, \u2018What the f\u2013k did you just do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s reaction to Pelosi\u2019s endorsement of Kamala Harris is detailed in ABC journalist Jonathan Karl\u2019s upcoming book, \u201cRetribution.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

It has been widely reported that the 44th president wanted an open convention<\/a> to determine the party\u2019s nominee, rather than anointing Harris<\/a> after Biden\u2019s shocking drop-out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obama reportedly had serious concerns about Harris\u2019 competence and her ability to beat Trump in the general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat train has left the station,\u201d Pelosi reportedly told Obama during their call, according to Karl, apparently referring to Biden\u2019s quick endorsement of Harris after announcing his decision to end his campaign.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Karl wrote that Obama and Pelosi both \u201cagreed Harris should not simply be handed the nomination unchallenged.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, Obama and Pelosi \u2014 arguably the two most influential figures in the Democratic Party \u2014 had privately agreed to abstain from making any endorsements,\u201d the journalist claimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pair had been in \u201cregular communication\u201d leading up to Biden\u2019s July 21, 2024, withdrawal announcement<\/a>, which is why Obama was so stunned by Pelosi\u2019s decision to back Harris.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harris was endorsed by Obama five days after Biden dropped out of the race \u2014 while Pelosi backed her less than 24 hours after former President Joe Biden withdrew. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

Pelosi reportedly agreed with Obama that an open primary was needed once Biden bowed out. AP<\/p>\n

A source close to Obama described the former president\u2019s conversation with Pelosi as \u201c\u2019good-natured ribbing,\u201d rather than heated, according to Karl.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe former president wanted to know what had happened. Why had Pelosi issued a statement endorsing Harris so soon? Hadn\u2019t he and Pelosi agreed days earlier that party leaders anointing the vice president as Biden\u2019s replacement would be a mistake?\u201d Karl writes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the source close to Pelosi felt Obama sounded \u201cgenuinely irritated\u201d on the call.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At least one Biden official believed that Obama, who waited five days after the then-81-year-old president dropped out to endorse Harris, didn\u2019t think the former vice president could win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only one Black Jesus,\u201d the senior Biden adviser told Karl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Obama, Pelosi\u2019s husband was also surprised by the former House speaker\u2019s decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKamala?\u201d Paul Pelosi<\/a> asked his wife, according to Karl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To which Nancy Pelosi shot back: \u201cDon\u2019t start with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In \u201cRetribution,\u201d Karl notes that with big-name Democrats, such as the Clintons, and potential challengers, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, quickly endorsing Harris, Pelosi \u201chad no choice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo other candidates had stepped forward \u2014 Kamala Harris was it. The only thing Pelosi could do was try to help her win the election,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pelosi\u2019s office did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former President Barack Obama was \u201cnot happy\u201d with Rep. Nancy Pelosi\u2019s (D-Calif.) quick endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11704,12674,2878,153,874,10811,13289,9,11,10,87,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-19377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-2024-presidential-election","9":"tag-barack-obama","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-joe-biden","13":"tag-kamala-harris","14":"tag-nancy-pelosi","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-news","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}