WASHINGTON — Barack Obama has not set foot in South Carolina recently, but he has become a flash point among the Democratic presidential candidates as they compete for black voters in Saturday’s primary there and in the bigger, diverse Super Tuesday contests next week.
In statements and a campaign ad over the past few days, former Vice President Joe Biden has accused Sen. Bernie Sanders of disloyalty against the nation’s first black president for considering a primary challenge against Obama in 2012. Sanders insists he didn’t consider it.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent about $22.4 million so far on two national television ads featuring several photos of him with Obama, something Biden has sought to undercut by questioning whether the two men were close.
Other candidates have praised Obama on the airwaves and debate stages as well as in early primary and caucus states this month, a sharp turnaround from the criticism that some 2020 contenders lobbed last year at his record, especially on immigration. The new embrace is a measure of his popularity with black voters 12 years after his last contested election in South Carolina, where he beat Hillary Clinton in a rout that cemented, once and for all, his standing with black voters nationwide.
Obama hasn’t tried to referee how the current candidates are using his name, image or record, and he has studiously avoided playing favorites. He does have opinions about the race, several of his allies say, but has made it clear that he sees his main role as unifying the party after a nominee is selected and helping ease tensions among warring supporters.