Despite Former vice president Joe Biden trying very hard to attach himself to the so-called “successes” of the Obama administration, Obama himself seems to be distancing himself from his former Veep.
First, he has never come forward and flat out endorsed Biden, secondly, many in Obama’s “inner circle” have expressed a lack of confidence in Biden, and now, Obama has said some seemingly very unflattering things about his ex-running mate.
“You know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden,” Obama said, referring to a connection with voters, according to a recent Politico Magazine report. That remark reportedly was made to one of Biden’s Democratic primary opponents.
An August New York Times report also cited a source who claimed that before Biden officially entered the 2020 race, Obama told him, “You don’t have to do this, Joe, you really don’t.”
That article came after Obama’s former top strategist David Axelrod had harsh words for the former vice president. Axelrod warned that Biden “has sort of played into the caricature” of being mentally weak that President Trump has played on in the past. This, after Axelrod had questioned Biden’s “steadiness” regarding an abortion policy flip-flop.
Axelrod also has described Biden as “confused” and suggested he looked like “part of the past rather than the future,” after a heated exchange during a June debate between Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
The dismissive commentary from one of the chief architects of Obama’s history-making 2008 presidential run is not helpful for a candidate who has latched his campaign to the Obama legacy — routinely defending ObamaCare in the face of primary rivals vowing to pursue “Medicare-for-all,” and reminding voters of their bond. One time Biden even went so far as to post matching friendship bracelets on Twitter wishing the former commander-in-chief a happy Best Friends Day. Obama responded with a classy, “Back atcha Joe,” along with a GIF of him calling Biden the “best VP America has ever had.”
But, that sentiment seems to be waning. And even if Obama thinks that Biden may have been a great VP, that doesn’t mean he sees him as president.
Karl Rove, former deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush and current Fox News contributor, pointed to signals from Obama’s aides.
“The Obama team is everywhere across the field and you don’t get the sense that there’s a lot of love and enthusiasm for Joe Biden as a candidate,” Rove said on a recent Fox panel. “Maybe it’s because they don’t think he can get it across the line, maybe it’s because they don’t agree with him, or maybe it’s because they dealt with him in the Obama administration and while they have a great deal of affection for him don’t think he has what it takes to be a presidential candidate and a victor.”