"Obama would be jealous": How Biden's rivalry with his ex-boss shapes his presidency. 1/2
Alex Thompson
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President Biden doesn't speak frequently with Barack Obama — but behind closed doors, he talks about him a lot.
Why it matters: Biden often measures himself against the man he served as vice president, current and former aides say. It's acomplex relationship in which there is a rivalry — particularly on Biden's side.
"Obama would be jealous," Biden sometimes says when speaking about a perceived accomplishment, according to two Biden aides familiar with such instances.
The competitive dynamic has informed Biden's approach to several issues — including how he's dealt with Afghanistan, Israel and Congress.
Reality check: On a personal level, the Biden-Obama relationship is respectful and even affectionate.
Obama often praises Biden publicly and is set to be a key surrogate on the campaign trail this fall to help Biden get re-elected.
Driving the news: Biden's range of feelings about Obama is apparent in the recently released transcript of Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents.
Unprompted, Biden told Hur about the wounding experience of Obama favoring Hillary Clinton over him to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016.
Biden recalled that "a lot of people … were encouraging me to run in this period, except the president …. He just thought that [Clinton] had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did."
Biden privately has told aides that he believed he could have beaten Donald Trump if he had run in 2016.
Biden speaks more often with former President Bill Clinton than Obama, the Washington Post has reported.
What they're saying: "President Biden does not make such comments in private. As President Biden has said, President Obama is family to him," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Axios.
Biden "talks to both former President Obama and President Clinton often," Bates added.
A spokesperson for Obama declined to comment.
The intrigue: Many longtime Biden aides have long felt that Obama and his team did not fully appreciate Biden's experience with foreign policy, Congress and grip-and-grin politicking — and were disrespectful.
Many strong relationships remain between Biden and Obama worlds, but there is some hostility.
One former Biden aide told Axios: "The Obama people thought Biden would suck as president. They didn't think he'd be organized enough to execute."
Some Biden aides resent the large number of Obama veterans Biden and his top aides decided to bring into the current administration at levels above people who had worked with Biden for much longer.
"We do have too many Obama people who don't care about Joe Biden. It's about them," one former White House official told Axios.
Obama himself acknowledged in 2021 the overlap between his team and Biden's, telling The New York Times, "Joe and the administration are essentially finishing the job … 90% of the folks who were there in my administration, they are continuing and building on the policies we talked about."
This has created tension between the two camps ahead of the 2024 election — especially when some Obama-era operatives offer advice.
"When people say, 'This is what worked for Obama,' their first response is often, 'We're not Obama,' " one senior Democrat whohas been in touch with the White House said of Biden's team.
But Biden's White House does regularly consult some Obama aides — especially former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. He's in frequent touch with Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn and campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez…
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/18/biden-obama-rivalry-presidency