Criticism from former Obama staffers directed at President Biden, including calls for him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, serve as a stark reminder of the well-known tensions between the former White House duo dating back nearly two decades.
The often-tense relationship between Biden and Obama reportedly began shortly after the latter’s election to the Senate in 2004, when both served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to The New York Times, Obama disliked Biden’s often long-winded speeches, to the point that he once passed a note to a colleague that read, “Shoot me. Now.”
The two eventually found themselves facing off for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, with Biden, in announcing his campaign, controversially referring to Obama as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate, bright, clean-cut and a good-looking guy.”
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Former President Obama and President Biden. (Fake Images)
The intense backlash to the comment prompted Biden to apologize and Obama to tell reporters: “I have no problem with Joe Biden.”
Biden eventually dropped out of the race after a dismal showing in the Iowa primary, but Obama chose him as his running mate. Both defeated Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin.
There were reportedly frequent disagreements between the two during the first months of their administration, including a clash when Obama publicly belittled Biden while speaking to reporters (something he later agreed with an annoyed Biden to avoid doing) and disapproving glances from the former while the latter spoke during meetings.
Biden was reportedly frustrated with Obama’s cautious decision-making process and disagreed with him on a range of issues, including sending more troops to Afghanistan at the request of the military leadership.
Despite the disagreements, the two eventually developed a close relationship, and even a friendship, before Obama reportedly rejected a suggestion from close advisers to replace Biden in the 2012 re-election campaign with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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President Obama smiles alongside Vice President Biden before signing health insurance reform legislation during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, March 23, 2010. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Obama was close to Biden and provided strength and support to his family before and after the death of his son, Beau Biden, from a form of brain cancer, but later worked to convince his vice president not to seek the 2016 Democratic nomination in favor of Clinton.
“The president was not encouraging,” Biden later acknowledged, according to The New York Times. He never publicly expressed disappointment that Obama favored Clinton, but he apparently felt she would have been a stronger opponent to then-Republican nominee Donald Trump.
When Biden finally launched another presidential campaign in 2019, Obama decided not to endorse him and instead opted to let the primary process play out. He ultimately offered his support in August 2020, after Biden had secured the nomination.
The tension between the two, despite being friends, appeared not to have disappeared during the campaign when Obama reportedly expressed doubts about Biden’s suitability for the job.
“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to screw things up,” a Democratic source recalled Obama saying at one point, according to Politico.
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This photograph released by the White House shows President Obama and Vice President Biden in the Oval Office of the White House during the President’s Daily Economic Briefing on July 30, 2009. (Pete Souza/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden has often compared himself to Obama throughout his presidency, going so far as to frequently use the phrase “Obama would be jealous” when talking about an accomplishment, according to an Axios report earlier this year.
Biden’s disappointing performance in the first presidential debate last month led many former Obama advisers and allies to call for him to exit the race, despite the former president initially defending him. Among those calls was former adviser Jon Favreau, widely known as one of the “Obama brothers” during his time in the White House.
Favreau, who attended the same fundraising event in Los Angeles that actor George Clooney referenced in his damaging Guest essay from the New York Times calling on Biden to drop out of the presidential race, said during an appearance on CNN earlier this week that “Clooney was absolutely right.”
Clooney wrote in his guest essay that the Biden who showed up at the fundraiser “wasn’t the ‘big deal’ Joe Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod has also repeatedly criticized Biden, saying Friday during his appearance on CNN that Biden “really needs a royal flush to win this race” against former President Trump.
“There are certain immutable facts of life,” Axelrod said in a separate interview with CNN while discussing Biden’s age and leadership. “They were painfully obvious on that debate stage. The president just hasn’t sunk in. He’s not winning this race.”
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod, right, criticized President Biden’s performance in the debate and interview with ABC News. (AP Photo/Getty Images)
From left to right: Former Obama adviser Jon Favreau, President Biden and actor George Clooney. (Fake Images)
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Reports have also emerged that Obama has been working “behind the scenes” to force Biden out of the race. Several media outlets reported on Obama’s alleged efforts Thursday morning, including Politico, which claimed Clooney had “tipped off” the former president about his guest essay.
A source close to Obama declined to comment on the reports but pointed Fox News Digital to the former president’s statements in support of Biden, both at the Los Angeles fundraiser that became the subject of Clooney’s op-ed and after the debate.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday responded to a recent claim by Trump that Obama “never respected” Biden during his time in office. She said Biden and Obama have “a close relationship,” but could not discuss the specifics of any recent calls or conversations between the two.
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