Did Obama want Biden to run in 2020?

[Mountainmanbob]

Rachel Campos Duffy: Obama clearly never wanted Biden to run, thought he might ruin his legacy

"I think he knows he's a gaffe machine, I think he's very afraid that Biden might damage his legacy," Duffy added.

She was responding to a New York Times report that the former president repeatedly told Biden he didn't have to run.

 

[tulc]

wow...a Republican offers her opinion about something involving President Obama and vice President Biden?
tulc(that has to be...interesting, right?)

 

[Ada Lovelace]

The death of Beau Biden to brain cancer at age 46 caused catastrophic grief to VP Biden and all in his family who loved and adored him. This is a family that has persevered through extraordinary loss before; VP Biden's first wife and their young daughter died in a car accident in the early 1970s, and both of his sons were injured in that crash. But such an immense loss is a disorienting blow, bringing one to the knees in grief, and it takes time to become steady again after rising back up. Beau died in 2015, in the same season as when presidential candidates were launching their campaigns for the 2016 election. His was not a death that came with grace and peace as it might have for someone 40 years his senior, but rather it had come after an extremely grueling, prolonged fight against cancer. His family had been in that fight with him. They were devastated.

Beau Biden had passionately encouraged his father to run for president. Quite understandably, though, his father was too emotionally shattered from the heartbreak. The time was far too brief. Not just for VP Biden but for his entire family. Presidential candidates have their whole lives opened for examination and critique. Their families frequently keep pace alongside them during the race, joining them for countless events. It's in every conceivable way exhausting. For a family that is still reeling from the loss of a beloved son, father, husband, brother, it would be all the more so. President Obama fully understood this, having known Beau, and delivered his eulogy. Beau's children, wife, his stepmother who had loved him fiercely, his father also spoke; their grief was palpable and President Obama witnessed it. The assurance to VP Biden that he didn't have to run is that it's not necessary for him to do so in order to honor his son. Beau had made his father promise that his own death would not cause him to give up on the robustness of life. I doubt time could ever heal such a profound loss as that of a child, but it does allow for the heart to recover enough so that it is no longer so raw, it does allow one to become sturdy again. I think it's wonderful that VP Biden has chosen to run. He has asked that President Obama not endorse him, so that request being honored isn't a slight. There are other candidates I prefer but I certainly respect VP Biden and wish him health and happiness.

The TL;DR is: I completely disagree with Rachel Campos Duffy's opinion.

 

[sdowney717]

Becoming the POTUS is a very serious important job, I am all in favor of extreme vetting, not just anyone should get into this position! If a candidate is having mental issues, he should not become POTUS, especially if that is affecting his memory. Say what you dislike about Trump, but he is still very much on the ball and sharp minded and energetic versus geriatric...

 

[Go Braves]

Becoming the POTUS is a very serious important job, I am all in favor of extreme vetting, not just anyone should get into this position! If a candidate is having mental issues, he should not become POTUS, especially if that is affecting his memory. Say what you dislike about Trump, but he is still very much on the ball and sharp minded and energetic versus geriatric...

Not sure if that was a slip.

Say what you dislike about Biden, but he is still very much on the ball and sharp minded and energetic versus geriatric...


Both Biden & Donald are old. They're only a few years apart. Biden is still physically & mentally fit. Not sure why you'd think otherwise, unless you want to say that him grieving his son's death makes him mentally unfit. It makes him a human, that's all.

Now sure Biden has slipped up. Made gaffes. They're rare enough that anytime he does that, Donald's base seizes upon it, makes a whole dang thread here all about it. Lol. Just imagine how many threads would be required to cover the chronic misstatements made by Donald Trump. Not to mention his habitual dishonesty. At this point it's not a flame to say that, on account of how it's proven fact. Donald manages to lose his point in under a minute. He says outlandish things that are totally false. He pushes the craziest conspiracy theories. He shows emotional weakness by lashing out in a total disproportionate way to any kind of criticism or rivalry. Donald recently tried to snidely call out a mistake Biden had made. In the process of doing that, Donald got it all wrong himself. Made a mistake himself, about a mistake. Smh & lol. Folks right here on this forum have made all sorts of errors all the dang time. Myself included. I'm far from being old. Presidential candidates decades younger than than those 2 have misspoken. Considering how often candidates speak, it's hardly a surprise.

 

[sdowney717]

Not sure if that was a slip.

Say what you dislike about Biden, but he is still very much on the ball and sharp minded and energetic versus geriatric...


Both Biden & Donald are old. They're only a few years apart. Biden is still physically & mentally fit. Not sure why you'd think otherwise, unless you want to say that him grieving his son's death makes him mentally unfit. It makes him a human, that's all.

Now sure Biden has slipped up. Made gaffes. They're rare enough that anytime he does that, Donald's base seizes upon it, makes a whole dang thread here all about it. Lol. Just imagine how many threads would be required to cover the chronic misstatements made by Donald Trump. Not to mention his habitual dishonesty. At this point it's not a flame to say that, on account of how it's proven fact. Donald manages to lose his point in under a minute. He says outlandish things that are totally false. He pushes the craziest conspiracy theories. He shows emotional weakness by lashing out in a total disproportionate way to any kind of criticism or rivalry. Donald recently tried to snidely call out a mistake Biden had made. In the process of doing that, Donald got it all wrong himself. Made a mistake himself, about a mistake. Smh & lol. Folks right here on this forum have made all sorts of errors all the dang time. Myself included. I'm far from being old. Presidential candidates decades younger than than those 2 have misspoken. Considering how often candidates speak, it's hardly a surprise.

I have seen Biden on video looking weak. No doubt that and continuing gaffes, well, we will see what happens. I do think he will get the nomination as none of the others have any merit worth considering for president. When Clinton was running, she also looked weak and had odd spells, behaviors.

 

[jgarden]

Rachel Campos Duffy: Obama clearly never wanted Biden to run, thought he might ruin his legacy

"I think he knows he's a gaffe machine, I think he's very afraid that Biden might damage his legacy," Duffy added.

She was responding to a New York Times report that the former president repeatedly told Biden he didn't have to run.

Whatever Biden's deficiencies, they pale in comparison to the current resident in the White House!

Apparently Biden is the one Democratic candidate Trump and his surrogates fear most because he is repeatedly ahead by double digits in the polls!

 

[The Barbarian]

I have seen Biden on video looking weak.

This weak?

No, I didn't think so. Body language tells it all.

When Clinton was running, she also looked weak and had odd spells, behaviors.

Trump gets lost, walking to his limo:

Trump's speech problems revive questions about his fitness to be president:

 

[sdowney717]

Trumps body language.

15 Surprising Things That Trump's Body Language Reveals About Him

 

[sdowney717]

That hand steeple with Putin shows Trump is incredibly confident and Obama used the same gesture. Putin is unsure of himself and slightly uncomfortable here.


You’ll find dozens of photos of Trump deploying what’s known as the “steeple,” a gesture where the fingers of one hand rest on the fingers of the other in a triangle-like pose. According to Allan and Barbara Pearse’s book, The Definitive Book of Body Language, this move alone is proof of his extreme confidence.

The book says:

“We found that the steeple was frequently used in superior-subordinate interaction and that it indicates a confident or self-assured attitude. Superiors often use this gesture position when they give instructions or advice to subordinates, and it is particularly common among accountants, lawyers and managers. People who are confident, superior types often use this gesture and, by doing so, signal their confident attitude.”

 

[The Barbarian]

There's a confusion here, between the "steeple", showing confidence, and the inverted steeple, showing submission and attention:

The hand steeple, where the fingers are making a little "roof top", is showing a lot of confidence. This hand gesture is very popular with lawyers, politicians and priests (it does resemble praying, don't you think?) and while it shows great confidence, you should not use it when you're trying to gain someone's trust... the hand steeple can make you look arrogant and schmug. It does show strength when negotiating.

The reverse hand steeple is similar to the hand steeple, but this gesture is used more often during listening, where the hand steeple is used more often during talking. And since women are better listeners than men, the reverse hand steeple is used more often by women.
Confident Hand Gesture

Notice Putin's feet apart, relaxed posture, and confidence bearing. Trump's hands are down, in the protective/listening posture, and he's attentive to Putin.

This is why so many commentators were intrigued by his submissive stance. This, as you might remember, was where he publicly took Putin's denial over the evidence obtained by his own intelligence people. It's still unclear why he's so submissive to the Russians.

 

[Go Braves]

I have seen Biden on video looking weak. No doubt that and continuing gaffes, well, we will see what happens. I do think he will get the nomination as none of the others have any merit worth considering for president. When Clinton was running, she also looked weak and had odd spells, behaviors.

Donald Trump is on video sweating like a hog, having difficulty drinking from a bottle of water, wandering off like he's lost, calling folks by the wrong name, getting cities mixed up, acting in a way that's so brazenly unacceptable. He's repeated the same lie 80+ times, which could be out of deliberate dishonesty or maybe on account of him just forgetting that many times. He repeatedly gets facts wrong. Of course Biden, Clinton, everybody has made gaffes. Shoot just have a look around this forum right here & you'll see plenty of errors folks just sitting at home in their recliners have made. Donald is unique in his frequency of errors. You're entitled to your opinion, mine is that every single candidate that is considering running has got more merit than Donald.

Now as for the topic of this thread, yes, I think President Obama wanted VP Biden to run.

 

[The Barbarian]

Now as for the topic of this thread, yes, I think President Obama wanted VP Biden to run.

Obviously, Obama had a lot of respect for Biden; their initially rocky relationship developed into mutual admiration:
Mr. Obama, for his part, took a long time to warm to Mr. Biden, and kept him at arms’ length, and on a leash, in the early days. Up until earlier this year, he suggested Mr. Biden would be better off sticking with his vague promise, made during the audition for the vice presidency, that his short-lived 2008 presidential campaign would be his last.

That has changed: While initially skeptical of Mr. Biden’s decision to run, Mr. Obama, driven by affection and loyalty, has been more active in advising his campaign than previously known — going so far as to request a briefing from the campaign before his friend officially joined the fray, according to people close to both men.
tell.”
...
Their relationship had nowhere to go but up, and as the 2008 primary race rolled on, it did. Mr. Biden’s witty self-confidence and command of policy at the debates elicited admiration from Mr. Obama, who struggled with the format despite his greater oratorical gifts. Over time, Mr. Obama dropped his guard a bit, and Mr. Biden treated him respectfully on the debate stage.
...
By the summer, Mr. Obama’s two top strategists, David Plouffe and David Axelrod, had Mr. Biden at the top of their list. The choice was not just about politics and optics. Mr. Obama, confident to the point of cockiness about his political chops, was privately expressing anxiety about his ability to govern — conceding that Mrs. Clinton, his chief rival for the nomination, had made valid points about his inexperience.

“He needed somebody in the Situation Room, and somebody who would deal with Mitch so he wouldn’t have to,” said Mr. Axelrod, referring to Mitch McConnell, the combative Senate Republican leader.
...
Mr. Biden was candid about his struggle to maintain verbal discipline, and he repeatedly interrupted himself to ask, “Am I making sense?” But the quantity of his advice was offset by its quality. Mr. Obama’s political magi were especially impressed with his insights into the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.

The former fighter pilot valued unpredictability, Mr. Biden said, anticipating Mr. McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate and Mr. McCain’s disastrous decision to suspend his campaign that fall to focus on the global financial crisis.

What most impressed Mr. Obama’s advisers, however, was Mr. Biden’s ease with his family; he was comfortable expressing affection to his wife and grown children in a way that most politicians, including Mr. Obama, were not.
...
In early August, Mr. Obama arranged to have Mr. Biden quietly shuttled to his suite at the Graves 601 Hotel in Minneapolis, where he was campaigning. The conversation lasted well into the night.

Mr. Obama agreed that Mr. Biden would be the final person he spoke to before making a big decision, and the two men would have weekly lunches. Mr. Biden also made a loyalty pledge that would become the basis of their deeper personal bond. “You make a decision, and I will follow it to my death,” Mr. Biden said, according to Mr. Kaufman.

At some point, Mr. Biden also told Obama aides that “Barack would never have to worry” about him positioning himself for another presidential run. He was too old, he told them, and he viewed his new job as a capstone, not a catapult. But while both sides assumed that vow covered the duration of Mr. Obama’s presidency, what might happen after that was never explicitly stated.

Mr. Biden was the only one of the finalists to make such a promise. “That was helpful,” Mr. Plouffe said.

Before parting, Mr. Obama popped a surprise, intended to test Mr. Biden’s commitment to being a wingman: “Would you prefer being secretary of state to vice president?” he asked.

Mr. Biden chose the latter. Mr. Obama formally offered him the job after he flew back to Washington. Neither man has ever spoken publicly about exactly what was said, but one Biden aide who was watching the little red switchboard light for the senator’s private line said it stayed on too long for it to have simply been a perfunctory call of congratulations.

The next eight years are the stuff of buddy-movie lore — “a shotgun marriage that gradually turned into a love story,” in Mr. Axelrod’s telling.
...
By now, the line between heart and head, between the personal and political, so clear a decade ago, has blurred completely.

The two men spoke at least a half dozen times before Mr. Biden decided to run, and Mr. Obama took pains to cast his doubts about the campaign in personal terms.

“You don’t have to do this, Joe, you really don’t,” Mr. Obama told Mr. Biden earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the exchange.

Mr. Biden — who thinks he could have defeated Donald Trump four years ago — responded by telling Mr. Obama he could never forgive himself if he turned down a second shot at Mr. Trump.

Mr. Obama has said he will not make an endorsement in the primary, and has offered every candidate his counsel. But he has taken an active interest in the inner workings of his friend’s campaign, to an extent beyond anything offered to other candidates.
Obama and Biden’s Relationship Looks Rosy. It Wasn’t Always That Simple.