奥巴马和米歇尔·奥巴马支持卡玛拉·哈里斯，给予她意料之中但至关重要的支持
【中美创新时报2024 年 7 月 26 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）前总统巴拉克·奥巴马和前第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马支持卡玛拉·哈里斯竞选总统，让这位副总统获得了美国两位最受欢迎的民主党人意料之中但仍然至关重要的支持。美联社记者比尔·巴罗（BILL BARROW）对此作了下述报道。
周五，一段视频显示哈里斯接受了这对前第一夫妇的联合电话，哈里斯作为共和党可能的候选人势头强劲，此前总统乔·拜登决定结束连任竞选，支持他的副手对抗共和党候选人和前总统唐纳德·特朗普。
它还凸显了美国第一位黑人总统与第一位担任副总统的女性、第一位黑人女性和第一位亚裔之间的友谊和潜在的历史联系，这位副总统现在正努力打破总统职位上的障碍。
“我们打电话告诉米歇尔，我非常自豪地支持你，并尽一切努力让你通过这次选举进入白宫，”这位前总统告诉哈里斯，哈里斯在活动后台接听电话，身后跟着一名特勤局特工。
米歇尔·奥巴马说：“我不能不对我的女儿卡玛拉说，我为你感到骄傲，我就打这个电话。”
“这将是历史性的，”她补充道。
哈里斯在奥巴马 2008 年当选之前就认识他俩了，她感谢他们的友谊，并表示期待在 11 月 5 日选举日前三个月的竞选活动中与他们“一起上路”。
“我们也会玩得开心，不是吗？”哈里斯说。
奥巴马夫妇可能是最后几位正式支持哈里斯的党内大人物，这反映了这位前总统希望至少在公开场合继续保持党内元老的地位。奥巴马夫妇仍然是民主党候选人大型竞选活动中筹款的重要力量和受欢迎的代言人。
根据美联社的一项调查，哈里斯已经获得了民主党全国代表大会大多数代表的公开支持，该大会将于 8 月 19 日在芝加哥举行。民主党全国委员会预计将举行一次虚拟提名投票，到 8 月 7 日，哈里斯和一位尚未公布姓名的竞选搭档将成为民主党的正式候选人。
在人们普遍担心这位 81 岁的总统能否击败特朗普之际，拜登在周日宣布结束竞选活动后一小时内就支持了哈里斯。前众议院议长南希·佩洛西、参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默、众议院民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯、众议院少数党党鞭吉姆·克莱伯恩、前总统比尔·克林顿和前国务卿希拉里·克林顿随后也支持了哈里斯。
然而，在哈里斯获得代表承诺、在核心民主党选区四处奔走并筹集超过 1.2 亿美元资金时，奥巴马夫妇却步履谨慎。公众的谨慎态度反映了这位前总统在拜登与特朗普的辩论惨败和总统最终决定结束竞选之间的几周内是如何应对的：巴拉克·奥巴马在党的行动中有一定的存在感，但他行事低调。
拜登宣布后，奥巴马的最初声明中没有提到哈里斯。相反，他泛泛地谈到了提出一位继任拜登的候选人：“我非常有信心，我们党的领导人将能够创造一个选出杰出候选人的过程，”这位前总统写道。
奥巴马夫妇分别在 2016 年为希拉里·克林顿和 2020 年为拜登竞选，包括在选举日前最后几个周末举行大型集会。他们在 2020 年民主党大会上发表了重要演讲，由于冠状病毒大流行，大会以虚拟方式举行。这位前总统的演讲尤其引人注目，因为他公开抨击特朗普是对民主的威胁，这一论点在哈里斯的竞选中一直存在。
题图：2022 年的卡玛拉·哈里斯和巴拉克·奥巴马。CHIP SOMODEVILLA/摄影师：CHIP SOMODEVILLA/G
附原英文报道：
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but crucial support
By BILL BARROW The Associated Press,Updated July 26, 2024
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris in her White House bid, giving the vice president the expected but still crucial backing of the nation’s two most popular Democrats.
The endorsement, announced Friday in a video showing Harris accepting a joint phone call from the former first couple, comes as Harris builds momentum as their party’s likely nominee after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection bid and endorse his second-in-command against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
It also highlights the friendship and potentially historic link between the nation’s first Black president and the first woman, first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to serve as vice president, who is now vying to break those barriers at the presidential rank.
“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president told Harris, who is shown taking the call as she walks backstage at an event, trailed by a Secret Service agent.
Said Michelle Obama, “I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl, Kamala, I am proud of you.
“This is going to be historic,” she added.
Harris, who has known the Obamas since before his election in 2008, thanked them for their friendship and said she looks forward to “getting there, being on the road” with them in the three-month blitz before Election Day on Nov. 5.
“We’re gonna have some fun with this too, aren’t we?” Harris said.
The Obamas are perhaps the last major party figures to endorse Harris formally, a reflection of the former president’s desire to remain, at least publicly, a party elder operating above the fray. The Obamas remain prodigious fundraising draws and popular surrogates at large campaign events for Democratic candidates.
According to an Associated Press survey, Harris already has secured the public support of a majority of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which begins Aug. 19 in Chicago. The Democratic National Committee expects to hold a virtual nominating vote that would, by Aug. 7, make Harris and a yet-to-be-named running mate the official Democratic ticket.
Biden endorsed Harris within an hour of announcing his decision Sunday to end his campaign amid widespread concern about the 81-year-old president’s ability to defeat Trump. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed in the days after.
The Obamas, however, trod carefully as Harris secured the delegate commitments, made the rounds among core Democratic constituencies and raised more than $120 million. The public caution tracks how the former president handled the weeks between Biden’s debate debacle against Trump and the president’s eventual decision to end his campaign: Barack Obama was a certain presence in the party’s maneuvers, but he operated quietly.
Obama’s initial statement after Biden’s announcement did not mention Harris. Instead, he spoke generically about coming up with a nominee to succeed Biden: “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” the former president wrote.
Both Obamas campaigned separately for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, including large rallies on the closing weekends before Election Day. They delivered key speeches at the Democrats’ convention in 2020, a virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic. The former president’s speech was especially notable because he unveiled a full-throated attack on Trump as a threat to democracy, an argument that endures as part of Harris’ campaign.
