Former President Barack Obama was reportedly caught off guard and visibly irritated when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi swiftly moved to endorse Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee just hours after President Biden announced he would abandon his reelection bid, according to a forthcoming book from ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl.
Pelosi described Harris as “brilliantly astute” and declared “full confidence” in her ability to defeat Donald Trump. But the move reportedly stunned Obama, who had been urging Democratic leaders to slow down and allow, as Karl writes, “a process” to unfold rather than immediately rally behind Biden’s vice president.
“The Obamas were not happy,” a Pelosi confidant told Karl, summarizing Obama’s message to Pelosi as, essentially, “What the f*ck did you just do?”
Excerpts from Karl’s book, Retribution, obtained by the Daily Mail and New York Post, detail a prior understanding between Obama and Pelosi: the party would avoid early endorsements and refrain from “anointing” Harris without some form of competitive selection — a “mini flash primary,” a delegates’ meeting, or another process that would give Democrats a choice. Both leaders were reportedly deeply concerned about Harris’s political vulnerabilities and electability.
But less than 24 hours after Biden stepped aside, the endorsements came in a wave. Governors Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer, and Gavin Newsom all declared their support almost instantly. By the time Pelosi moved the next day, Karl writes, she believed “there’s nothing to hold the tide.”
When Obama called Pelosi to register his frustration, she curtly responded, “That train has left the station,” pointing to Biden’s own quick endorsement of Harris.
Accounts of the call differed. A source close to Obama insisted it amounted to “good-natured ribbing,” yet a Pelosi ally told Karl the former president sounded “genuinely irritated.” Karl said he had spoken with someone who overheard the conversation, in which Obama asked Pelosi: “Nancy, what was that all about?” The question, Karl notes, reflected “clearly irritated” disbelief.
Speaking to Morning Joe on Tuesday, Karl explained the root of the tension: Obama and Pelosi had joined forces behind the scenes to pressure Biden out of the race, on the condition that his departure would not automatically coronate Harris.
“They had been adamant that when he gets out, we need to have some kind of a process,” Karl said. “And don’t just hand it over to Kamala Harris. And they had had a pact on this.”
Instead, Harris was effectively declared the nominee before a single debate or vote — a consolidation of power that has long characterized Democratic Party leadership but has increasingly sparked concerns among voters who expect transparency and choice.
Obama waited five days before offering his public endorsement of Harris, a delay that only fueled speculation among Democrats and Republicans alike about whether he had confidence in her ability to win.
With heavyweights from the Clintons to Newsom lined up behind Harris, Pelosi — a leading architect of Democratic political strategy for a generation — had, as Karl writes, “no choice. The only thing she could do was try to help her win the election.”
Yet the episode underscores a deeper theme of the 2024 campaign: a Democratic Party grappling with internal distrust, uneasy about its standard-bearer, and attempting to project unity while top leaders privately question whether voters will accept the result of a decision they never got to make.
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