Behind the scenes, Obama has been deeply involved in discussions about the future of Biden’s campaign. He’s fielded calls from many concerned Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). He’s also shared his perspective on the challenges facing the president, according to people familiar with the discussions, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
An Obama spokesman declined to comment.
Obama sees his role as a sounding board and adviser to his former vice president, and tells allies he wants to protect Biden. In those conversations, Obama has said he believes Biden has been a great president and wants to protect his record, which could be in jeopardy if Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress next year.
Obama, who has long drawn political insights from data, told people in some conversations that he worries that the polls are less positive than Biden, that former President Donald Trump’s electoral prospects are improving and that donors are abandoning the president.
Biden and his campaign advisers remained steadfast in public, saying the president would not drop out of the race. On Wednesday, Biden paused a campaign trip in Las Vegas after testing positive for the coronavirus. He returned to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has a vacation home, to quarantine.
Deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Thursday morning that Biden’s campaign will continue. “He’s not questioning anything,” Fulks said. “The president has made his decision. I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know how many more times we can answer that.”
Obama’s concerns come amid growing fears gripping the Democratic Party about Biden’s prospects and the potential impact on other candidates. Democratic donors, activists and elected officials are increasingly turning to a small group of seasoned elected leaders to help them navigate the crisis created by Biden’s botched June 27 debate performance.
Top Democrats in Congress, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (R-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (R-N.Y.), both spoke directly to Biden in the past week, warning of widespread concerns that his candidacy could harm Democratic chances of winning control of either legislature next year.
Pelosi has taken an even more active role behind the scenes, resisting Biden’s efforts to end debate over his ongoing candidacy, sources familiar with her efforts said. She spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.
Obama, perhaps the party’s most revered figure, has tried to keep a lower profile, hoping to draw on his longstanding friendship with Biden, his former running mate and vice president. But Obama’s role as party leader from 2008 to 2016 has made him a sounding board for concerns within the party.
Former Obama advisers who still comment openly on policy, from his counselor David Axelrod to a group of junior advisers who now run the podcast company Crooked Media, have been among the most vocal Democrats arguing that Biden may no longer have a path to victory.
Democrats have seen national polls drift away from Biden since the debate, and they now show the president trailing in northern states. Strategists are bracing for the possibility that Trump could get a new boost from his nominating convention, as he did in 2016 and 2020, along with a potential surge in his approval ratings after Saturday’s assassination attempt.
The Post previously reported that Obama had expressed concerns about Biden’s path forward after the debate and that the two presidents spoke in the days afterward. But in the weeks since, Obama’s concerns about Biden’s candidacy have only grown, people familiar with the matter said.
Meanwhile, some of Biden’s aides have been angry about Obama’s role in these talks, accusing him of failing to unite the party behind Biden’s candidacy. After the debate, Obama posted a social media message of support for Biden.
“There are bad debate nights,” Obama wrote. “Believe me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has spent his life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only cares about himself.”
Since then, Obama has been largely silent in public. But Biden aides say Obama could have stopped Academy Award-winning actor George Clooney, a close friend of the former president, from writing an op-ed in the New York Times calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.
Movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, a senior Biden campaign official, tried to stop Clooney, a close friend of his, from publishing the piece but was unsuccessful, a source familiar with his work said.