After months of meetings with Democratic candidates, the former US President is still holding back on giving his direct support to any of the candidates until the party nominee is determined; however, he still gives advice as to how to beat Donald Trump in 2020.
Barack Obama has already met with more than a dozen declared and prospective candidates for the Democratic primaries, from Bernie Sanders to Mike Bloomberg, yet no candidate has received his direct lobbying, according to the New York Times. Even former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. does not expect to obtain Obama’s backing if he decides to run, according to Biden’s allies.
According to these sources, Obama has urged candidates to push back against Trump’s suggestion that substantial economic improvement has occurred during his presidency and suggested that they try and deliver a competing message that can resonate even in Republican-leaning areas, among rural voters and communities that tend to distrust Democrats.