As the election approaches, President Biden often calls former President Barack Obama to catch up on the race or speak about the family. But Obama himself is calling Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House chief of staff, in addition to top Biden campaign advisers to develop strategy and supply advice.
That level of commitment illustrates Obama’s support for Biden, but in addition what one of his senior advisers described as Obama’s grave concerns that Biden could lose to former President Donald J. Trump. The aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Obama had “always” been concerned about Biden’s loss. That’s why, the aide added, he’s ready to “give advice” along with his former vp in an election where the vote margin could also be slim in several states.
For perhaps the first time, the two agree on Biden’s future. An indication of things to come might be their joint appearance Thursday with former President Bill Clinton at a big Biden campaign fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
It wasn’t at all times like this.
In 2015, as Biden was mourning the loss of his oldest son Beau and considering running for president, Obama gently suggested it wasn’t his time. In his memoir “Promise Me, Dad,” Biden wrote that Obama told him that if he “could nominate anyone as president for the next eight years,” it will be Biden. The vp wrote that “the mere possibility of the presidential campaign Beau wanted gave us purpose and hope – a way to defy fate.”
However, after discussing the stakes with Obama, he withdrew from the competition and gave way to Hillary Clinton, perceived by the Obama White House as a much stronger candidate. The decision sparked distrust and lasting resentment amongst some of Biden’s advisers. Several of them work in the White House today and consider that Obama and his advisers sidelined Biden, who they believed could have modified the course of history and defeated Trump in 2016.
In 2019, when Biden entered the race against then-President Trump, Obama withheld his endorsement until the Democratic primary, although he privately worked to pave the way for Biden. He also gave the Biden campaign his blessing to use their interactions at the Obama White House in campaign materials, including footage of the moment Obama surprised his vp awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom shortly before leaving office.
In the 16 years since their first campaign together, their relationship has been defined by the characteristics of an odd couple: a Harvard professor and a man from Scranton. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who later served as a former junior member. Cool head and Irish temperament.
Obama needed time to persuade Biden, who was brought in as a senior president in Washington, to help the exciting but inexperienced young incoming president. Since taking office, Mr. Biden has struggled to be second in command.
Biden and his allies believed Mr. Obama’s brain trust was not eager about taking strategic advice or additional requests from Mr. Biden, who had lost two previous presidential primaries. At times, members of Biden’s team – including Biden himself – have complained about his second-rate treatment by the Obama team, an elite Ivy-educated machine.
One former campaign official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, recalled the moment that drew the former vp’s ire. After being asked to sign a press release on immigration policy, Biden snapped: “You mean the one I’ve had for 25 years? Or this guy?
As time went on, both were shocked, and Mr. Biden used his relationships on Capitol Hill to help steer a massive stimulus package through Congress during the Great Recession and get the Affordable Care Act across the finish line. He famously congratulated Obama as the president signed the health care bill, whispering, “Mr. Mr. President, it’s a big deal” with an added adjective inappropriate for national television.
They didn’t agree with one another on all the things. Biden strongly opposed Obama’s decision to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in 2009; it was a dispute that became a central point of interest for Robert K. Hur, the special counsel investigating the president’s handling of secret documents. A secret handwritten note Biden sent Obama about Afghanistan was found by investigators at Biden’s residence in Delaware.
IN long interview Last October, in a conversation with Hur, Biden hinted at the opposites-attract dynamic during a portion of the discussion that aimed to gauge how often and the way he talked to other senators about sensitive issues, including the Iran nuclear deal.
“The bad joke is, with President Obama, I always told him, Mr. President, all politics is personal,” Mr. Biden said at one point, explaining to Mr. Hur why he often invited senators to breakfast at the vp’s residence.
Biden never explained the joke, but recalling the advice he gave Obama highlighted a key difference between the two men, no less than so far as Biden was concerned – he was the one cultivating relationships on Capitol Hill, which he said was something Obama had relatively little interest in doing.
Biden’s advisers say that after Beau Biden’s death, their relationship has modified from friendly to almost familial. When Obama delivered Beau’s eulogy in June 2015, the president looked down from the podium and told Biden that he and his family were “honorary members” of the Biden clan.
“And the Biden family rule applies: We’re always here for you, we always will be – I give you my word as Biden,” Obama said, a moment described by people close to Biden as a significant turning point for the president, who was stunned by Obama’s publicly cordial remarks.
But during his interview with Hur, Biden explained one other significant disconnect: Obama’s different view of Biden’s political future. Obama and his advisers selected Biden because of his political experience, but in addition because he had, according to Obama’s team, limited profession prospects beyond the vice presidency.
Biden reminded Hur that when he was considering running for president in 2015, “at the time I was leaving the Senate, there were still a lot of people who were encouraging me to run at that time, except for the president,” he said, referring to to Mr. Obama. – I’m not… and it isn’t a malicious statement. He just thought she had a greater likelihood of winning the presidency than me,” a reference to Mrs. Clinton.
Those in the White House at the time say the timeline wasn’t that easy.
“The notion that there was a red carpet, which, as you know, Barack Obama blocked, there’s just no basis in reality,” David Plouffe, a former senior adviser to Obama, said in an interview. Plouffe said Mrs. Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont were already strong contenders for the Democratic nomination when Biden was considering running.
“Joe Biden would run for president a third time, because of the nomination, he would not be successful and he would never become president,” Plouffe said.
Still, White House officials and people working for Obama say any lingering distrust at the staff level has subsided, given the urgency for Biden to defeat Trump in November. Privately, Democrats close to Obama said their concerns about Biden’s prospects were somewhat eased by the president’s confrontational performance during his State of the Union address.
An email sent by an Obama alumni group and obtained by The New York Times said as much. “We hope you’re as excited about the State of the Union address!” the group wrote in an email to supporters. “President Biden is ready.”
