Topline
As President Joe Biden resists pressure to drop out of the 2024 race, former President Barack Obama’s maneuvers in the intra-party crisis—and his long, complicated relationship with Biden—have come under heightened scrutiny.
US President Joe Biden (L) speaks next to former US President Barack Obama onstage during a campaign ... [+]
Key Facts
A Politico report that George Clooney consulted Obama before publicly calling on Biden Wednesday to step down in the race—and Obama did not try to deter Clooney—is raising questions about where Obama stands on Biden’s candidacy, despite the former president publicly declaring his support for his former vice president.
Biden’s and Obama’s respective camps describe them as “like family,” but their longtime partnership has been dotted with occasional tensions behind the scenes for years, largely stemming from a personality conflict between the often-free-wheeling Biden and disciplined Obama that has trickled down to lower-level staffers, creating a rivalry among Biden officials who have sought to prove the Obama-era naysayers wrong.
It’s been widely reported that Biden harbors deep regrets about listening to Obama and others in the party who urged him not to run for president in 2016, in part because Biden was grieving over the 2015 death of his son, Beau, and also because they believed Hillary Clinton had a better chance of beating Trump.
Biden alluded to his resentment in his recent interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, noting “a lot of people . . . except [Obama]” encouraged him to run for the Democratic nomination in 2016.
During their time in the White House, some Obama aides would often mock Biden’s penchant for rhetorical gaffes and tangents, former Press Secretary Jen Psaki told Politico in 2020: Obama himself made light of Biden’s meandering in his first White House press conference in 2009, telling reporters “I don’t remember exactly what Joe was referring to—not surprisingly,” when asked about Biden’s assessment of an economic stimulus package.
During Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, Biden famously endorsed same-sex marriage in a TV interview before Obama did, a surprise move that frustrated some Obama aides who were planning a more deliberate announcement—but was welcomed by many advocates.
On the contrary, Biden and those in his administration have criticized Obama’s political style as too rigid, sometimes condescending, according to multiple reports—Biden himself hinted at the sentiment recently, telling Hur he urged Obama to take a more personal approach, noting as vice president, he often had lawmakers over for breakfast.
The president also referenced his disagreement with Obama in 2009 over sending a surge of troops to Afghanistan—a conflict Biden inherited, leading to the disastrous 2021 military withdrawal—telling Hur he urged Obama not to move forward with the deployment to “quite frankly, save his ass.”
What We Don’t Know
Obama’s private feelings on whether Biden should remain in the race are unknown, and it’s unclear whether Biden would follow the former president’s counsel either way. Democratic political advisor and Biden ally Dmitri Mehlhorn said in an interview with Drop Site News the pressure Biden felt ahead of the 2016 race still weighs heavily on him. “Joe Biden is haunted by the fact that in 2016, he listened to these arguments. And he's right. We were all wrong. If he'd run in 2016, we would not be here,” Melhorn said, without mentioning Obama in particular.
News Peg
Clooney on Wednesday wrote in The New York Times that Biden was “not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010” when the president attended a fund-raiser Clooney co-hosted for him in Los Angeles last month. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.” Politico on Thursday reported Obama knew about Clooney’s plans to call on Biden to step aside, but didn’t object, citing sources familiar with their conversations. It was the latest reporting on Obama’s private feelings about Biden’s campaign: Behind the scenes, Obama has warned Biden and his campaign for months to take seriously Trump’s electability, and has told allies recently he believes the debate has hurt Biden’s chances of beating Trump, The Washington Post reported.
Crucial Quote
“The Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this,” host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough said Thursday, referring to Clooney’s op-ed. Co-host Mika Brzezinksi co-signed the idea, telling viewers “this wasn’t George Clooney” and “I think that Barack Obama has a lot of influence, and I think that there’s, there’s a lot there.”
Contra
There’s no evidence Obama is working to thwart Biden’s re-election bid publicly or privately, and he’s repeatedly defended Biden in public. “Bad debate nights happen,” he tweeted after the debate. “Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself . . . Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November.”
Chief Critics
Biden has faced criticism from several high-profile former Obama advisers-turned-pundits. CNN senior political commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod, who has been expressing skepticism about Biden’s electability for months, wrote Saturday in a CNN column titled “Biden’s defiant delusion,” that Biden is “likely headed for a landslide defeat to a lawless and unpopular former president.” Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, co-host of the “Pod Save America” podcast along with two other ex-Obama aides, called the debate a “f–king disaster,” criticizing Trump but opining that Biden “in every single way, failed at that debate.” The criticism prompted a veiled comeback from the Biden campaign, which urged supporters not to listen to Biden’s detractors, including “self-important podcasters.”
Tangent
Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have spread the baseless conspiracy theory for years that Obama is operating a shadow administration within the Biden White House, suggesting Biden is too old to do the job himself. Trump, in October, referred to Obama as Biden’s “boss” in a New Hampshire campaign speech, and told a crowd in Iowa that month “I don’t believe [Biden’s] smart enough to be doing this stuff.” The conspiracy largely stems from Obama’s quip to late-night host Steven Colbert in 2020 that his ideal role since leaving the presidency would be to have “a stand-in, a front-man or front-woman” who he could “deliver the lines to” through an earpiece, while staying out of the spotlight.
Key Background
As of Thursday, 13 Democratic federal lawmakers—12 in the House and one senator—have called on Biden to step aside in the race in the two weeks since the debate. Biden has rebuffed his detractors as “elites” and “billionaires,” insisting the “average voter,” still wants him to run, he said Monday. Democrats in Congress have been meeting throughout the week to carve out a path forward, but the party remains deeply divided on whether to continue supporting Biden, and congressional leaders, so far, have said publicly the decision is the president’s to make.
Further Reading
Jon Stewart Says Biden 'Becoming Trumpian'—Joining These Other A-Listers Who Have Critiqued Biden (Forbes)
Rep. Scholten Joins 12 Other Congressional Democrats Urging Biden To Drop Out: Here’s The Full List (Forbes)
Despite Biden's Clean-Up Effort, More Influential Democrats Air Concerns He Can’t Beat Trump (Forbes)
