Biden faces criticism from former Obama staffers: "Clooney was spot on"

The ex-Obama staffers' criticism of President Biden, including their calls for him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, highlights the longstanding tensions between the two former White House colleagues.

The relationship between Biden and Obama was reportedly tense from the start, with Obama disliking Biden's lengthy speeches and even expressing a desire to end his own life during one of their meetings.

In 2008, Biden and Obama faced off for the Democratic presidential nomination, with Biden controversially referring to Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy" during his campaign announcement.

An apology from Biden and Obama's statement that he has no problem with him were the results of the strong reaction to his comment.

After a poor performance in the Iowa caucuses, Biden eventually dropped out of the presidential race. However, he was later chosen by Obama as his vice presidential running mate. Together, they went on to defeat McCain and Palin in the general election.

Biden and Obama reportedly had frequent disagreements during the first few months of Biden's administration, including a clash over Obama publicly diminishing Biden while speaking to reporters and eye rolls from the former while the latter spoke during meetings.

According to reports, Biden felt irritated with Obama's approach to decision-making, and they had differing opinions on several topics, including the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan as recommended by the military.

Although they initially had differences, the two eventually formed a close bond, even becoming friends, before Obama reportedly rejected a proposal from his advisors to replace Biden in the 2012 re-election campaign with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Obama supported Biden and his family during the loss of Beau Biden, but later encouraged him not to run for president in 2016 in favor of Clinton.

Biden later acknowledged that the president was not encouraging, according to The New York Times. He never publicly expressed disappointment in Obama favoring Clinton, but reportedly felt he would have been a stronger opponent to then-Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Obama did not endorse Biden when he launched his presidential campaign in 2019, instead allowing the primary process to unfold. He later endorsed Biden in August 2020 after he had secured the nomination.

Despite being friends, the tension between Obama and Biden remained high during the campaign when Obama reportedly questioned Biden's fitness for office.

Obama once said on Politico, "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to mess things up," according to a Democratic source.

During his presidency, Biden has frequently compared himself to Obama and often used the phrase "Obama would be jealous" when discussing an accomplishment, as reported by Axios earlier this year.

Despite Obama's initial defense of Biden, many former Obama advisers and allies called for his exit from the race after his disappointing showing in the first presidential debate last month. Among them was former adviser Jon Favreau, widely known as one of the "Obama bros" during his time at the White House.

During a CNN appearance this week, Favreau, who attended the same Los Angeles fundraiser as actor George Clooney, agreed with Clooney's New York Times guest essay calling on Biden to drop out of the presidential race.

In his guest essay, Clooney stated that the Biden who appeared at the fundraiser was not the same as the "big F-ing deal" Biden of 2010 or the Biden of 2020. Instead, he was the same man we all saw at the debate.

David Axelrod, a former adviser to Obama, has repeatedly criticized Biden, stating on CNN on Friday that Biden needs a "royal flush" to win the race against Trump.

"Axelrod stated in a CNN interview that there are certain immutable facts of life, which were evident during the debate. Biden's age and leadership were painfully obvious, but the president has not accepted this reality. He is not winning the race."

Reports have emerged that Obama has been secretly working to remove Biden from the presidential race. Multiple media outlets reported on Obama's alleged efforts on Thursday morning, including Politico, which stated that the former president had received a "heads-up" from Clooney about his guest essay.

Obama's representative refused to comment on the reports but directed Planet Chronicle Digital to Obama's statements supporting Biden at the Los Angeles fundraiser and after the debate.

On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed Trump's assertion that Obama never respected Biden during their time in office. She stated that Biden and Obama share a close relationship, but she couldn't provide specifics about any recent communication between them.