Former aides to President Barack Obama have been among the most vocal in the fierce Democratic debate over whether Biden should withdraw from the presidential race.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, has repeatedly cast doubt on Biden’s chances of winning, saying this week that Biden has lost the race and “we need to think hard about what the right thing to do here is.”
Former aides to former President Barack Obama, who hosts the popular podcast “Pod Save America,” have also publicly expressed concerns about whether Biden can beat former President Trump.
“What would have really helped in the effort to defeat Trump and stop Project 2025? If the Democratic candidate had mentioned Project 2025 even once in a debate watched by 50 million Americans or in an interview on ABC watched by 8 million Americans,” Jon Favreau, former chief speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, wrote on social platform X on Monday, referring to the Heritage Action policy plan prepared for the new Trump administration.
David Plouffe, Obama’s 2008 campaign chairman, described the hours after Biden’s terrible debate performance with Trump as “kind of a DEFCON 1 moment” for Democrats.
Jen Psaki, Biden’s first White House press secretary and someone who served with him for much of the Obama administration, also told MSNBC viewers on Monday night that “there are legitimate questions at this point, and it’s not just wealthy donors and coastal elites that are asking them.”
“I worked for him. I respect him and I care about him deeply,” Psaki acknowledged, “but if I sat here every night and said every question that’s being asked in the public eye is unfair, then I don’t respect you. So I’m not going to do that.”
There has long been tension between some members of President Obama’s administration and Mr. Biden, but former aides have rarely spoken more critically of the current Democratic president than over the past 12 days.
One former aide to former President Barack Obama said those who do so mean well and are genuinely concerned about the prospects of a new Trump administration. As one former aide put it, they are speaking “for a cause, with the intent of protecting our democracy.”
On Tuesday’s episode of “Pod Save America,” Favreau and co-host Tommy Vieter said the conversation about Biden wasn’t personal.
They believe Biden would have been a good president and have friends (former Obama aides) in the White House and on the campaign trail, but they believe polls and other data suggest Biden could lose the election to Trump.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Vieter pointed to an AARP poll showing Trump with a large lead in the battleground state of Wisconsin. “I respect those who genuinely believe Biden has the best chance of winning the November election. I don’t think so, but we’re all just making our best guesses based on the information available to us,” he wrote. “But those who tell us to shut up, stop talking about this, and ignore data like this should be laughed out of the political world.”
Other former Obama aides not connected to the podcast agreed with that assessment.
“Look, they saw what everybody saw in the debate on Thursday night and they’re in disbelief, just like all of us,” one adviser to former President Obama said. “I think a lot of us feel like there’s no turning back. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle, so all we can do is, frankly, do our best to defeat Donald Trump.”
“Is it too much? Probably, but this is not a normal situation given the risks,” the former adviser said.
Obama himself issued a statement endorsing Biden after the debate.
“Bad debate nights happen, trust me, I know,” the former president said in a post on X, referring to his own sloppy debate performance during his reelection campaign against Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in 2012. “But this election is a choice between someone who has spent their whole life fighting for the common man and someone who only thinks about themselves.”
“We have a conflict between someone who will tell the truth, who will know right from wrong, who will be honest with the American people, and someone who will lie for their own gain. Last night’s events don’t change that, and that’s why so much is at stake in November.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that President Obama met with Biden after the debate and “offered his support as a confidant and personal counselor” to the vice president, but it was unclear what Obama would say about Biden’s performance and how it might affect his reelection chances, the paper said.
Biden and Vice President Harris are clearly taking note of the comments made by former President Obama’s aides.
And it’s no secret that Axelrod’s criticism of Biden, even before the June 27 debate between Biden and Trump, has irritated those around Biden.
During a phone-in appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, Biden was asked about a growing number of pundits, columnists and other Democrats who have said he should reconsider whether he should continue in the race. When host Mika Brzezinski read out Axelrod’s name, Biden replied, “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
In a fundraising email sent late last month, Rob Flaherty, the Biden campaign’s digital strategist, blasted his Democratic opponents, including “smug podcasters.”
“Obviously there’s tension between the two,” the former Obama adviser said, “but there shouldn’t be. We all love Joe. He’s a good guy. He’s a good president. But having said that, nobody believes this is the path to victory.”
