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Biden would have preferred Obama to personally share his concerns about the state of the race, sources said.
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Several Biden confidants were disappointed that Obama said nothing when some called for the president to resign.
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The two men have a close but complicated relationship.
President Joe Biden appears to have accepted that he will no longer run for re-election, but he is unhappy that former President Barack Obama did not express his concerns about the 2024 election to him, sources told Politico.
According to the outlet, Biden is frustrated that his former boss did not speak to him directly about the campaign after the June debate, further complicating their already complicated relationship.
Obama quickly defended Biden after the disastrous debate performance that marked the beginning of the end for the president’s re-election campaign. At the time, the former president posted on X about his own shaky 2012 debate performance and confirmed that Biden was still the man to beat Trump.
Then Obama went silent.
While the former president, who considers Biden a friend, did not lead the charge to impeach Biden, he also did not suppress dissent. Biden’s inner circle was angered by Obama’s conspicuous silence, the sources told Politico. Obama privately told aides he was concerned about Biden’s chances and reportedly discussed the issue with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has also drawn the president’s ire for her behind-the-scenes pressure campaign, the news outlet reported.
Biden’s disappointment only adds to the lingering frustrations in their relationship, as Biden has long reportedly believed that Obama’s allies hold him in contempt. And 2016 is never far away, when Biden said Obama made it clear he wanted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president instead of his own No. 2.
But this year’s convention will have a very different dynamic.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, Biden will take the stage and vigorously promote the presidential candidacy of his No. 2, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Read the original article on Business Insider
