Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I., Vt.) decision to end his presidential campaign means former vice president Joe Biden is the last Democrat standing in the 2020 primary.
Sanders's continued presence in the race did not pose a serious threat to Biden's prospects. Of far greater concern was the former VP's consistent inability to form coherent sentences and behave like a functioning adult with normal cognitive abilities.
Even though Sanders's exit will have little effect on the primary's outcome, it does at least solidify Biden as the clear frontrunner to win the endorsement of his former boss, Barack Obama. The Netflix producer and former president of the United States has been relatively quiet throughout the Democratic primary, even as most of the candidates implicitly ran against his legacy. Meanwhile, many pundits saw Obama's conspicuous refusal to endorse Biden as an embarrassing snub indicating a lack of confidence in the former vice president.
That's not all. Obama reportedly tried to dissuade Biden from running in the first place. "You don’t have to do this, Joe, you really don't," Obama told Biden in early 2019, according to the New York Times. There was even speculation that the former president could endorse a rival candidate, such as Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), whom he once described as the "best-looking attorney general" in the country.
Now that Biden is the only candidate still running for president in the Democratic primary, his chances of winning the party's nomination are very good—at least 51 percent, if not slightly higher. Because Obama is all but certain to endorse the Democratic nominee—absent a change of heart in light of the party's position on taxing his considerable fortune—that endorsement is, for now, most likely to go to Biden.
That's great news for Biden, who has spent the last several years trying to convince the American people that Obama wasn't just his boss in the White House, but also his very good friend. Maybe they'll finally believe him now. Congrats!