Obama, worried about Trump, urges Biden circle to bolster campaign
Source: Washington Post
Former president Barack Obama has raised questions about the structure of President Biden’s reelection campaign, discussing the matter directly with Biden and telling the president’s aides and allies the campaign needs to be empowered to make decisions without clearing them with the White House, according to three people familiar with the conversations.
Obama grew “animated” in discussing the 2024 election and former president Donald Trump’s potential return to power, one of the people said, and has suggested to Biden’s advisers that the campaign needs more top-level decision-makers at its headquarters in Wilmington, Del. — or it must empower the people already in place. Obama has not recommended specific individuals, but he has mentioned David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 race, as the type of senior strategist needed at the Biden campaign.
Obama’s conversation with Biden on the subject took place during a private lunch at the White House in recent months, one of the people said, a meeting that has not been previously reported. Biden, who has long used Obama as a sounding board, invited his former boss to lunch, and the two discussed a range of topics including the 2024 election.
During the lunch, Obama noted the success of his reelection campaign structure in 2012, when some of his top presidential aides, including David Axelrod and Jim Messina, left the White House to take charge of the reelection operation in Chicago. That is a sharp contrast from Biden’s approach of leaving his closest aides at the White House even though they are involved in all the key decisions made by the campaign.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/06/obama-biden-meeting-campaign-2024/
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Pisces
(6,297 posts)Many cheerleaders on this board want to ignore. The American public is not energized and I’m sure the poor donation numbers have Democrats pulling their hair out. Maybe people will wake up.
Biden eclipses Trump and GOP field with $71 million third quarter haul
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/15/politics/joe-biden-2024-reelection-fundraising/index.html
HUAJIAO
(2,730 posts)
bucolic_frolic
(55,547 posts)More out and about now.
Fiendish Thingy
(23,687 posts)brooklynite
(96,882 posts)MOMFUDSKI
(7,080 posts)the rethugs. Playing for keeping his job on CNN. Hacks Podcast isn’t much better. I sent him a scathing Email recently.
PortTack
(35,824 posts)Last edited Sun Jan 7, 2024, 12:25 PM - Edit history (1)
Among other things. Axelrod has said Biden should drop and doesn’t even consider all that president Biden has accomplished. Axelrod denies it despite several media reports to the contrary.
MadameButterfly
(4,124 posts)whether Biden should be the candidate (or whether voters whould have a say)
Fiendish Thingy
(23,687 posts)IIRC, he has spoken in support of Dean Phillip’s primary challenge to Biden.
brooklynite
(96,882 posts)And sees that as a risk to Democrats winning the White House
Fiendish Thingy
(23,687 posts)brooklynite
(96,882 posts)You’re free to disagree but it’s a realistic concern.
In any event this seems irrelevant to the story reflecting President Obama’s comment.
SleeplessinSoCal
(10,432 posts)And I mean everyone!
Seems that the good numbers re: economy needs to be hammered home. And contrast it with the desire to get rid of healrhcare and social security, as well as only giving the richest more disposable income instead of services to the lowest on the totem poll who will exacerbate our homeless problem.
I also believe the voters need to be made aware of the false narrative on the right in order to help the wealthiest of us. Do it via cartoon or power point. Whatever works to hammer home how much misinformation is destroying us.
It seems their two priorities - immigration and abortion - should be addressed by pointing to them as taking away rights rather than dealing with issues - poverty and climate change driving the migration disaster around the world.
FakeNoose
(42,090 posts)I believe that's the point Obama was making ... and of course, he's correct.
Joe Biden needs to decide whether to reassign his staff to the campaign. If he can't then he needs to hire new people for the campaign, and let them be SHARKS. Let them be the toughest, meanest, shrewdest people out there.
Get Steve Schmidt, or Rick Wilson, or the Democratic equivalent of those two. Let them call the shots and report back to Biden. That's how to run a campaign with all the fast-breaking stuff going on, day after day. Joe Biden needs to trust his campaign managers, and don't 2nd guess them, just let them do the job.
Biden's got this.
Chump is a loser and he's going to lose BIG this year. Then he's going to prison, never to be heard from again.
Upthevibe
(10,218 posts)Well, Steve Schmidt is supporting Dean Phillips so there's that....
FakeNoose
(42,090 posts)
ancianita
(43,314 posts)That is exactly what Trump did NOT do. He was in campaign mode during his entire presidency, and if not IN the White House, his campaign people were certainly there frequently.
Biden needs to be president. Clear of Trump and corporate media politics. And so the physical separation of campaign from the Executive Branch.
Obama is smart about Biden's strategists actually being uninvolved in Biden's presidency and far from the White House, anf far from the DOJ and especially the Special Counsel team, who Trump claims are working directly for Biden.
All campaign politics and presidential work need to actually BE separate.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)because they think Biden is too old, then this country is too stupid to deserve to exist.
It may be the end
bmichaelh
(1,231 posts)I am largely disappointed with Biden's campaign.
But it is early.
Astutely, when Obama ran against Romney, he made his perceived greatest strength a weakness.
Romney was known in certain circles as a great businessman.
Obama's campaign made that a weakness by showing all of the people that Romney hurt as a businessman.
I do not see Biden doing that yet.
Upthevibe
(10,218 posts)It's too early to say you're disappointed in Biden's campaign.
niyad
(133,499 posts)Hekate
(100,133 posts)republianmushroom
(22,526 posts)Upthevibe
(10,218 posts)I agree.
I hope Obama gets very, very involved in this campaign. I'm all for David Plouffe getting involved but not sell-out Axelrod (who I guess is a hired hand now with CNN)....
SKKY
(12,806 posts)...Against Clinton, as an unknown and insurgent candidate he won, but lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. Trump also won Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania by a combined 88K votes. Against Biden, he lost the popular vote by over 7 million and lost Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania by over 255K votes. Basically, against Clinton he threaded a needle he's very unlikely to be able to thread ever again. Now, we for sure can't sleep this election, and we need a get-out-the-vote campaign like we've never seen before, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
CTyankee
(68,359 posts)I'm glad the press is giving it a lot of attention NOW...