Former Obama campaign official: Lack of early endorsements for Biden could be a good thing

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Obama-era officials have yet to jump behind Biden. Is that a good or bad thing?

President Obama and dozens of officials from his administration have remained silent after the former vice president's 2020 campaign announcement.

As reports circulate that former Obama White House officials and advisers are unsure about pledging their support for Joe Biden in 2020, one former campaign director argues that he might be better off without them, at least for now.

Robin Biro, who served as a regional field director for the Obama-Biden campaign, said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" on Monday morning that an influx of Obama-era endorsements for Biden has the potential to create a bad narrative.

"This is actually really good for Joe Biden because it can avoid the problems that we ran into in 2016 with Hillary Clinton where she came out of the gate as the putative nominee and gave the appearance it was rigged," Biro argued.

Biro was discussing a recent Washington Post piece which highlighted the issue, stating that Biden "has yet to become a consensus pick of the White House and campaign advisers who made Obama’s two terms possible."

Within the party structure, Biro said, it's a "general no-no" to endorse before the general election, as the debates preceding it will give candidates an opportunity to campaign on real issues.

"I'm grateful this time around that he has got to really work for every single vote that he is going to get," he said of BIden. "That is going to serve him well come the general election."

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Biro added that having known both Obama and Biden personally, he doesn't necessarily believe that Biden asked Obama not to endorse him for the 2020 election, as he previously claimed. Biden said shortly after announcing his candidacy that he requested Obama not formally endorse him, so it would not look like the former president "put his thumb on the scale."

"Obama is very diplomatic with these things," Biro continued.

Ultimately, he added, major endorsements for 2020 candidates will likely come after debates are held, when both Democratic and Republican hopefuls will begin to form real platforms.

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"It really comes down to substance over loyalty, and it is early," Biro said. A lot can happen.

"Everybody is kind of wanting to get to the debates before they make a decision to endorse some candidates. This is not atypical but Joe Biden is really, really going to have to work for this.

"I know him personally, and even I am holding off endorsing," he continued. "I want to get to the debates. Let's see what they've got to say. I want to hear their messages."