Former President Barack Obama has allegedly said, in private, that he would publicly oppose Bernie Sanders as the nominee of the Democratic Party in 2020, according to The Hill.
The reporting originally comes from a long-form piece in Politico Magazine, where Obama voiced other opinions of his with regard to the current state of the Democratic primaries, including the crumbling campaign of his former vice president, Joe Biden.
Obama has remained unusually silent during the entirety of the process, refusing to endorse any one particular candidate or show public support in any way. An unnamed adviser to the former president told Politico that “I can’t even imagine, with this field, how bad it would have to be for him to say something.”
Only in recent weeks has Obama spoken out about the state of the race, where he has repeatedly criticized the rise of the far-left, including its ideological “purity tests” and the “politically woke” culture of left-wing youth.
The Democratic field has seen a grand total of 29 major candidates at some point in the election cycle, thus making it by far the largest presidential primary field in history. The field continues to be shaken up by late entries into the contest by former Governor Deval Patrick (D-Mass.) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D-N.Y.).