As the election approaches, President Biden has been calling former President Barack Obama regularly to update him on the campaign and talk about his family. But Mr. Obama himself has been calling his chief of staff, Jeffrey D. Zaients, and Biden campaign aides to strategize and give advice.
This level of engagement not only signals Obama's support for Biden, but also addresses Obama's grave concerns that Biden could lose to former President Donald J. Trump. It also represents what one of his close aides characterizes. The aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Obama was “always” worried about Mr. Biden losing. As a result, he is prepared to stand alongside the former vice president and “come through” in what could be a close election in some states, the aide added.
Perhaps for the first time, the two are on the same page about Biden's future. As a sign of things to come, they are scheduled to attend a major Biden campaign fundraiser Thursday at New York's Radio City Music Hall, along with former President Bill Clinton.
It wasn't always like this.
In 2015, as Biden was grieving the death of his eldest son Beau and considering running for president, it was Obama who gently suggested it wasn't his time. Mr. Biden wrote in his memoir, “Dad, Promise Me,” that Mr. Obama told him, “If I could appoint anyone to be president for the next eight years, it would be Mr. Biden.” “Just the possibility of winning the presidential election that Mr. Beau had hoped for, he has given us purpose and hope – a way to defy fate,” the vice president wrote.
But after discussing the conflict with Obama, he withdrew from the fray and endorsed Hillary Clinton, whom Obama sees as the far more likely candidate. The decision created distrust and lasting resentment among some of Mr. Biden's inner circle. Some of them now work in the White House, and Mr. Obama and his advisers believe they changed the course of history and sidelined Mr. Biden, who may have defeated Mr. Trump in 2016.
When Biden ran against then-President Donald Trump in 2019, Obama withheld his support until after the Democratic primary, but privately worked to pave the way for Biden. He also congratulated the Biden campaign on using Obama's exchanges in campaign materials, including footage of Obama surprising the vice president with the Presidential Medal of Freedom just before leaving office.
In the 16 years since their first campaign together, the relationship has been characterized by the odd couple characteristics of a Harvard-trained professor and a man from Scranton. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is a former junior senator. A calm mind and Irish temperament.
It took a while for Mr. Obama to warm up to Mr. Biden, who was brought in as a Washington elder statesman to support an exciting but inexperienced young president. Biden struggled to be second in command from the moment he joined the ticket.
Mr. Biden and his allies felt that Mr. Obama's brain trust was not interested in accepting strategic advice or additional requests from Mr. Biden, who lost the past two presidential primaries. At times, members of the Biden team, including Biden himself, complained about his second-class treatment by the Obama team, an elite group of Ivy-educated people.
A former campaign official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, recalled the moment that angered the former vice president. After being asked to sign a statement on immigration policy, Mr. Biden said: Or this person? ”
As time went on, the two sides clashed, with Biden leveraging his relationships on Capitol Hill to help steer a massive stimulus package through Congress during the Great Recession and the Affordable Care Act. He helped push the team to the finish line. When the president signed the health care bill, he famously congratulated Obama by whispering, “Mr. Obama.” Mr. President, this is a big deal,” inserted an adjective unsuitable for state television.
The two did not agree on everything. Mr. Biden has fiercely opposed Mr. Obama's decision to send additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan in 2009, and the disagreement has been a matter of concern to Special Counsel Robert K. Hur, who investigated the president's handling of classified documents. It will be the focus. A handwritten note of a classified document that Mr. Biden sent to Mr. Obama regarding Afghanistan was discovered by investigators at Mr. Biden's residence in Delaware.
In a lengthy interview with Mr. In some parts of the debate, he hinted at the power relationship that draws the two sides into conflict. nuclear deal.
“It's a bad joke, but with President Obama, I always tell him, 'Mr. President, all politics is personal,'” Biden said at one point, adding that he regularly calls out senators. I explained to Mr. Heo the reason for inviting him to the sub-conference breakfast. President's official residence.
Although Mr. Biden offered no explanation for the joke, his recollection of the advice he gave Mr. Obama highlighted a major difference between the two men, at least as far as Mr. Biden was concerned — Mr. Biden had cultivated relationships on Capitol Hill, and But the same was true for Biden. Mr. Obama had relatively little interest in doing.
After Beau Biden's death, their relationship went from friendly to almost familial, according to Biden aides. When Mr. Obama delivered his eulogy for Mr. Beau in June 2015, the president looked down from the podium and said Mr. Biden and his family were “honorary members” of the Biden family.
“And the Biden family rules apply. We are always here for you, and we will always be here for you — my words as Biden,” Obama said, echoing those close to Biden. describes this moment as a major turning point. The president was taken aback by Obama's affectionate public comments.
But in his interview with Hsu, Mr. Biden outlined another significant disconnect: Mr. Obama's differing views on Mr. Biden's political future. Mr. Obama and his advisers chose Mr. Biden not only for his policy experience but also because the Obama team believed that his career prospects outside of the vice presidency were limited.
When Biden was contemplating a presidential run in 2015, Obama said, “When I left the Senate, there were still a lot of people who encouraged me to run at this time, Mr. President.'' He mentioned it with reference to. “I'm not, and I'm not trying to be mean. He just thought she had a better chance of winning the president than me,” a reference to Mrs. Clinton.
Those in the White House at the time claim that the schedule was not that simple.
“The idea that there was a red carpet that Barack Obama blocked is simply not based in reality,” David Plouffe, a former senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said in an interview. Plouffe said that at the time Biden was considering running, Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont were already leading Democratic candidates.
“Joe Biden would have run for president a third time for the nomination, but he would not have succeeded and he would not have become president,” Plouffe said.
Still, White House officials and those working for Mr. Obama said they believed it was urgent for Mr. Biden to defeat Mr. Trump in November and that lingering mistrust at the staff level had been resolved. ing. Democrats close to Mr. Obama said privately that concerns about Mr. Biden's prospects had been assuaged somewhat by the president's confrontational performance in the State of the Union.
An email sent by Mr. Obama's alumni group and obtained by The New York Times said the same thing. “We hope you are as fired up as we are after the State of the Union address,” the group wrote in an email to supporters. “President Biden is ready.”