Reunited and It Feels So Good: Obama Works to Save Biden From a Loss to Trump

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Is former President Obama the Biden whisperer? That seems to be the opinion coming from New York Magazine. The Intelligencer has an in-depth article that explains what is going on behind the scenes between Biden and Obama. 

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It is important to remember that Barack Obama did not want his vice president to run for president in 2016. Obama made that clear when he endorsed Hillary Clinton, his secretary of state instead of Joe Biden. That was humiliating and Biden still isn't quite over that perceived betrayal. 

The message is that there is some natural tension between the Biden administration and former Obama people. Yet it was Obama who Biden turned to last December when the writing was on the wall - Biden's re-election campaign was in serious trouble. 

Obama is panicked but no one wants to admit it, especially him. Obama believes that Team Biden just needs to remain calm and carry on. He reminded Biden of his 2012 campaign which got off to a rough start. 

There is always the politics of personal destruction to fall back on when all else fails. For example, Obama broke the ice by speaking publicly about Trump's felony convictions. Days later, the Biden campaign leaned heavily into doing the same.

“Part of what happened over the last several years is we’ve normalized behavior that used to be disqualifying,” he said. “We had the spectacle of a nominee of one of the two major parties sitting in court and being convicted by a jury of his peers on 34 counts. You have — his foundation is not allowed to operate because it was engaging in monkey business and not actually philanthropic work. You have his organization being prosecuted for not paying taxes.” Even if you put aside Trump’s daily outrages, Obama argued, it should be clear that Biden is the candidate standing for basic American values.

That’s likely to be a big part of his public message when he fully reemerges this fall. As one of the party’s most popular figures for the last two decades, and still one of its strongest orators, he is almost certain to headline rallies again in September and October, having long ago come to the conclusion that he is most effective as a motivator when used sparingly and mostly once Election Day is in view.

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Earlier this month Obama met with some Democrat donors in Maryland. He played the victim card and said he is teaching his daughters about how racist America is today - that's my interpretation. 

Early this month, the former president met behind closed doors with major donors to Democrats’ Senate-campaign committee in suburban Maryland just days after his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, had died. He recounted her journey in, then out of, the segregated South Side of Chicago. “I have to constantly remind my own daughters that this stuff has never been easy. We sometimes have a nostalgia, and we romanticize the past,” he said, reflecting briefly on this political moment’s grave stakes before returning to a familiar argument. “The struggles that we’re now in were the struggles that she experienced 50, 60, 70 years ago,” he said of Robinson, “and they’re the same struggles that America went through 100 years ago and 200 years ago. Those warring spirits in the American soul, they have been around a long time. And sometimes we move back a step before taking two steps forward. I have no doubt that we will do the same this time. So part of what I want to leave you with is a sense of hopefulness.”

The state of racial relations in America has been markedly advanced even in my lifetime. I resent race-baiting grifters, even those who advance to the top of the political world, like Obama. He is no better than Al Sharpton or his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. His life as a biracial man has proven his assertions wrong. Barack Obama is one of the most privileged men in the world. 

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Obama told those Democrat donors that he wanted to offer hope to them. It was the same day that a poll came out that showed Biden underwater by 18 points in his approval rating against Trump. The felony convictions that Biden hoped would propel him forward in polls have not done so. He is tied with Trump in most national polls. Obama wanted the donors to understand that he was still the "hopey-changey guy." Everything is always about himself with Obama. 

Obama wants to rescue Biden's flailing campaign but he doesn't want to get his hands dirty. It's still early yet for Biden to be reaching for the big guns, but he has to. He's holding fundraisers with Obama and both Clintons. He recruits late-night show hosts to moderate fundraising events. These are strong whiffs of desperation at this point in the campaign.

Barack Obama is said to be planning to become more publicly involved in September and October. He has already done a dozen or so videos with Biden. Obama does interviews on podcasts. He has been pretty low-profile during the Biden presidency. Obama concentrates on giving speeches for handsome fees and working on projects with his production company after the multi-million Netflix deal. 

Obama is nervous. We don't know what comes next from him. 

Can Barack Obama save Joe Biden's campaign? That remains to be seen. Here at Hot Air, we work every day to help deny Biden a second term. Our country can't take another four years of Joe Biden in the White House. Will you consider joining one of our VIP programs to help us fight the good fight? Please go HERE and find the plan that works best for you. Your support allows us to do what we do. We can't do it without you. Thank you. 

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 21, 2024
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