The criticism of Biden by former Obama staffers, including calls for him to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, is a stark reminder of well-known tensions between the two former White House officials dating back nearly two decades.
Biden and Obama’s often awkward relationship reportedly began shortly after Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004, when they both served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to The New York Times, Obama was not a fan of Biden’s wordy speeches, and at one point even handed a colleague a note that read, “Shoot him now.”
The two ultimately faced off for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, with Biden causing controversy by announcing his campaign, describing Obama as “eloquent, intelligent, clean-cut, good-looking – the first mainstream African-American candidate.”
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Former President Obama and President Biden. (Getty Images)
Following strong backlash from his comments, Biden apologized and Obama told reporters, “There’s nothing wrong with Joe Biden.”
Biden ultimately dropped out of the race after a disastrous performance in the Iowa caucuses, but was subsequently picked by Obama as his running mate, and the pair ultimately defeated Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin.
The first few months of the administration were marked by frequent disagreements between the two, including Obama openly disparaging Biden to reporters (though he later agreed with an angry Biden not to do so) and Obama showing signs of dismay when Biden spoke during meetings.
Biden was reportedly unhappy with Obama’s careful decision-making process and disagreed with him on a number of issues, including sending additional troops to Afghanistan at the request of military leaders.
Despite their differences, the two eventually developed a close working relationship, even a friendship, after which Obama reportedly rejected aides’ suggestions to replace Biden with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in his 2012 reelection campaign.
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President Obama smiles alongside Vice President Biden before signing the Affordable Care Act during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 23, 2010. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Obama was close to Biden and provided encouragement and support to the Biden family before and after his son Beau Biden died of a type of brain cancer, but later persuaded the vice president to not seek the Democratic nomination in 2016 and to support Clinton instead.
“The president wasn’t encouraging,” Biden later admitted, according to The New York Times. Though he never publicly expressed disappointment in Obama’s endorsement of Clinton, Biden reportedly felt he would have been a stronger challenger to then-Republican nominee Donald Trump.
When Biden began campaigning for president again in 2019, Obama decided not to endorse him, instead choosing to wait for the primary process to work its way through. He eventually endorsed Biden in August 2020 after he had won the nomination.
Despite being friends, tensions between the two seemed to persist throughout the campaign, with Obama reportedly expressing doubts about Biden’s fitness to serve as president.
According to Politico, a Democratic source recalled Obama saying, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to screw things up.”
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This White House distribution photograph shows President Obama and Vice President Biden in the Oval Office at the White House during the President’s daily economic briefing on July 30, 2009. (Pete Souza/AFP via Getty Images)
Axios reported earlier this year that Biden frequently compared himself to Obama during his presidency, even frequently using the phrase “Obama would be jealous” when talking about his accomplishments.
Following Biden’s disappointing performance in the first presidential debate last month, many of Obama’s former advisers and allies called for him to drop out of the race, despite the former president’s initial defense of Biden, including former adviser Jon Favreau, who was widely known as one of the “Obama brothers” during his time in the White House.
Favreau was at the Los Angeles fundraiser where actor George Clooney was mentioned in his critical comments. New York Times guest essay “Clooney was right,” he said during an appearance on CNN earlier this week, after calling on Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
In his guest essay, Clooney wrote that the Biden who showed up to the fundraiser “was not the ‘Big’ Joe Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same guy we all saw at the debates.”
David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, has also repeatedly criticized Biden, appearing on CNN on Friday and saying Biden “really needs a royal flush” to win this election against former President Trump.
“There are some immutable facts in life,” Axelrod said of Biden’s age and leadership in a separate CNN interview. “That was painfully clear on the debate stage: The president just … doesn’t get it. He’s not going to win this election.”
David Axelrod (right), an adviser to former President Obama, criticized President Biden’s debate performance and ABC News interview. (AP Photo/Getty Images)
From left: former Obama adviser Jon Favreau, President Biden, and actor George Clooney. (Getty Images)
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Reports have also surfaced that President Obama was working “behind the scenes” to throw Biden out of the election. Multiple outlets reported on Obama’s alleged efforts Thursday morning, including Politico, which reported that Clooney had given former President Obama “advance notice” of the guest essay.
A source close to Obama declined to comment on the report but told Fox News Digital that Obama spoke in support of Biden both at the Los Angeles fundraiser that was the subject of Clooney’s op-ed and after the debate.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday responded to President Trump’s recent claim that Obama “never respected” Biden throughout his presidency. Jean-Pierre said Biden and Obama have a “close relationship” but could not provide details about any recent calls or conversations between the two.
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