Media reports said that former US President Barack Obama held discussions with senior Democratic leaders in closed rooms regarding the future of President Biden, but he has avoided revealing any position in public until now. As for what happened behind the scenes of George Clooney’s article calling for the president to step down from the race, he reveals The role of the former president in efforts to remove the president.
According to a report by the American CNN network, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi held private discussions about Joe Biden and the future of his 2024 election campaign.
Both the former president and the former Speaker of the House of Representatives expressed concern about how difficult it would be for the current president to defeat Donald Trump.
According to the network, “neither of them was quite sure what to do.”
“They are watching and waiting for President Biden to make a decision himself,” a longtime Democratic politician close to everyone told CNN, on the condition of anonymity to avoid being seen as disrespectful to Biden.
Ambiguous position
Obama's decision not to make any public comment for two weeks left a number of prominent Democrats feeling like he had left them floundering by taking the same stance that has largely defined his post-presidency.
After the debate, he posted on
The former president had not planned to make any public statement, but Biden and Obama aides coordinated to put out the post in a way that echoed Biden's campaign talking points that Obama's first re-election debate in 2012 was also bad, and his campaign didn't end because of it.
Washington secrets
But Obama's growing doubts about his friend's ability to win reelection is one of Washington's worst kept secrets.
Obama gets more calls than he makes, say people who have spoken to him. When he talks to donors and anxious Democratic officials, he listens more than he talks, carefully avoiding taking positions he assumes will trickle down quickly.
That was also Obama's approach in his post-debate call with Biden, which the current president noted to others included the former president's support for him in the face of unrest. According to other people familiar with the call, however, Obama stuck to his position as an "advisory board and special advisor." he urged. Play devil's advocate. But he did not take a position.
In conversations with some Democrats over the past two weeks, Obama has brushed aside the idea that he could push Biden in one direction or another even if he wanted to, underscoring the long, complicated but loyal relationship between them. It grew more complicated during their time apart: Since leaving the office and back — and weekly lunches at the White House for eight years — the two have spoken far less than some of their advisers often implied.
If the former president tries to guide Biden out, people who know Obama say, he is aware of the lens through which to view him.
Biden wrote that he felt Obama was not encouraging of his late entry into the Democratic primary in the months after his son Beau's death in 2015.
Although Obama believes he was trying to help his then-vice president focus on his grief and not engage in what would have been a very difficult primary campaign against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, that may not be the way he would approach another conversation.
"Biden will say, 'Well, Mr. President, I actually used that card in 2015 and that got us Donald Trump,'" the longtime Obama 2020 campaign aide predicted. “I think that will make him tougher.”
Obama is also loathe to give Trump, with whom he is always annoyed, any new material by becoming actively involved.
In the past — including during the 2020 Democratic primaries — Obama has seen his role as a unifier who can help confirm the party's direction.
So far, he has not committed to playing that role in the turmoil over whether Biden should remain the nominee, what happens if he stays, or what happens if he changes course and decides to leave.
"Well, Obama is known to not like drama," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Democrat of Missouri.
“So if there's drama, he's the one to deal with it.”
Last card tactic
Obama's hands-off approach was seen - at least publicly - by some close to him as a way to maintain his position in case he needed to have a frank and difficult conversation with Biden.
"He's going to be absolutely dedicated to the Democratic ticket," said a person who speaks regularly with Obama. "No matter who our nominee is, he's going to do everything he can to make sure that person wins in November."
Obama has been at Biden's side during two fundraising events this year, including at the event in Los Angeles last month where George Clooney later admitted he felt concerned by how Biden would act.
Biden woke up in Italy the day before the fundraiser — several days after the G7 meetings — and had to fly all night across five time zones to get there, because campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg was keen to hold the Hollywood-themed event, and Clooney told the campaign that He was only available for one day due to his shooting schedule.
Even on the way there, Obama questioned the idea of subjecting any presidential candidate to that kind of timeline.
What Clooney wrote and what Obama did
“He was the same man we all saw at the debate,” Clooney wrote in a New York Times op-ed this week, urging Biden to step down.
It was these words that angered some Biden loyalists, who suggested that Obama was behind Clooney's article. The former president, who was friendly with the actor, knew the article was coming but did not try to stop it.
For some Obama defenders, it was a way to maintain his neutrality, but for some Biden loyalists, it was a sign of deep betrayal.
Obama has been behind the scenes and on stage with Biden much longer than Clooney has been.
Others who were present at the time said the president's appearance was due to jet lag.
The famous video showing Obama leading Biden off the stage, people familiar with the matter say, was because the former president wanted to leave, not because Biden needed help.
The Obama aide declined to comment and also declined to say whether his assessment of Biden's condition was still that it was due to travel lag.
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