Three former advisers to President Barack Obama slammed President Biden on Tuesday, but long-standing rumors of tensions between the two sides have not disappeared.
Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vieter, known as the “Obama Brothers” during their time in the White House, spent most of their time Latest ‘Pod Save America’ Episode They collectively attacked Biden following his poor performance in the first presidential debate and in subsequent interviews.
“It was awful and hard to watch at times,” Vieter said, referring to Biden’s interview last week with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, which was part of the president’s efforts to quell critics who say he should drop out of the race.
Biden launches “phone campaign” to spur reelection, Democrats start flocking back to his camp
Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vieter attend PolitiCon at the Pasadena Convention Center on July 29, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (John Sciulli/Getty Images via Politicon)
“In fairness to Mr. Biden, I don’t think the interview resolved the political issues that arose from the debate,” he said, adding that the interview “further raised concerns” because Biden “struggled to speak clearly and coherently.”
Vieter argued that Biden has not articulated a compelling second-term platform that would appeal to swing voters beyond former President Trump, and that explanations for his recent poor performance, such as travel and illness, do not adequately explain “how bad the debates were.”
Lovett agreed, saying the interview “was a difficult situation for him to pull off, even at his best. It’s hard to explain that it was over a week after the debate, that the interview was so brief and that he’d only been interviewed once.”
“It was a terrible night at the debate. We all saw it,” he said. “The explanation is kind of vague… It doesn’t do enough to allay our concerns about what we saw that night, right? So it doesn’t offer any explanation.”
Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledges ABC interview was “so-so”
Former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden. (Getty Images)
“If you’re going to raise the stakes with one interview, then why not give us another example of someone who is hard for you to understand, not because he’s soft-spoken or because he’s mumbling, but because his train of thought doesn’t make sense,” he said. “The stakes are incredibly high. Trump is an incredible threat, but either he prosecutes the case or someone else prosecutes it, and at this point we’re not getting either.”
Favreau said Biden’s interview was “more coherent than the debates” but that he was “concerned” that Biden lacked urgency and message that he may not be able to recover from in future debates. He cited recent polls showing Biden trailing Trump in every key battleground state.
“You’re getting that message to George Stephanopoulos, so what are you going to do to win over voters who are undecided between Biden and Trump?” he asked.
Vieter then said “it seems like the clear choice that somebody else would have a better chance,” while Lovett argued that Biden “is not getting on message effectively.”
Haley urges convention delegates to support Trump: ‘Republican unity’
President Joe Biden speaks during a service at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Senator)
“The George Stephanopoulos interview was painful to watch,” Lovett said. “It was a terrible interview. He couldn’t explain at all why he was running, what happened in the debate, why he’s the guy who can beat Trump. It was a terrible explanation.”
The comments came a day after David Axelrod, an adviser to former President Barack Obama, said on CNN that it was a “certainty” that Biden would lose to Trump.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“There are some immutable facts in life,” Axelrod said, speaking about Biden’s age and leadership, “and that was painfully clear on the debate stage: The president just … doesn’t get it. He’s not going to win this election.”
Relations between Biden and former and current advisers to former President Barack Obama have reportedly been strained in recent years due to the level of criticism directed at the current president and his loss to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
But President Obama spent time defending Biden after his debate performance.
Fox News’ Brian Flood and Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
