5.9k Share this
Barack Obama was ‘jealous’ that the media portrayed his successor and former vice president Joe Biden‘s administration as more ‘transformative’ than his was, a bombshell new book excerpt suggested on Monday.
The popular Democrat helped Biden clinch the White House in 2020 over former President Donald Trump, capitalizing on the tight-knit friendship they were known for during Obama’s years in office.
But it was reportedly, at least at the time, a ‘political fable.’
The ex-president in reality had ‘complicated feelings’ about his former veep’s presidential campaign, according to forthcoming book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future, by New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns.
The two only ‘occasionally’ spoke at the beginning of Biden’s White House tenure, though Obama did apparently confide in another Democrat in Washington — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
‘Nancy Pelosi, who spoke regularly with the former president, came away from her conversations with Obama during this period with a matter-of-fact diagnosis,’ an excerpt obtained by Fox News read.
‘She told a friend: ‘Obama is jealous of Biden’.”
Former President Barack Obama had ‘complicated feelings’ about his former Vice President Joe Biden becoming president in 2020, a forthcoming account of the beginning of Biden’s presidency states
DailyMail.com has reached out to Pelosi’s office for comment.
Obama’s rare conversations with Biden were ‘hardly the stuff of the tight brotherhood both men had sold to the country as a cheery political fable,’ the book claims.
Biden even gave his own assessment of the fallout, as quoted by an adviser.
‘I am confident that Barack is not happy with the coverage of this administration as more transformative than his,’ the book states Biden told them.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly spoke ‘regularly’ with Obama and said he was ‘jealous’ of Biden’s White House
At the time, the incoming leader was being praised for assembling the most diverse presidential Cabinet in American history and placing an unprecedented emphasis on inclusion all the way up to the top ranks of his administration.
Comments in the book by Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile reveal some indication of national officials’ frustration with Obama’s in that respect — despite his trailblazing status as the first black president.
Brazile had reportedly complained to Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain about the ‘lack of black appointees’ in the new government, according to an excerpt obtained by the Chicago Sun Times.
The Democrat had ‘remembered well how the administration of the first Black president had been dominated by white men,’ the book’s authors write.
‘On matters of diversity, Brazile shot back, Obama wasn’t exactly the gold standard for Black folks.’
Biden also reportedly complained Obama hadn’t ‘lifted a finger’ to help him win the South Carolina primary in 2020, the race that cinched the Democratic nomination for him.
The former president and his staffers also subtly worked to discourage Biden from running for president in 2016. They instead favored Hillary Clinton, who later lost to Trump, Politico had reported in 2020.
‘I am confident that Barack is not happy with the coverage of this administration as more transformative than his,’ the book claims Biden told an adviser
‘The president was not encouraging’ of Biden’s potential White House bid at the time, the current commander-in-chief said.
Meanwhile Biden told Obama that he intends to run for president again in 2024, The Hill reported last week.
One person said Biden ‘wants to run and he’s clearly letting everyone know.’
If successful, he would be 81 years old at the time of his second inauguration.
Before becoming Obama’s running mate, Biden had two previous presidential campaigns in 2008 and 1988, neither of which saw a long run.
Earlier this month Obama made his first return to the White House since leaving office to mark the twelfth anniversary of passing the Affordable Care Act.
When he took the stage at the event, Obama jokingly referred to the White House’s current occupant as ‘Vice President Biden.’
Source: dailymail
