Is Team Obama Plotting a Comeback?
Recent revelations show the former President more involved in the Biden Admin than previously known, as his lieutenants are signaling new moves
Over the weekend, NBC News & Siena College released a poll that has Democrats freaking out.
The polling shows former President Trump is leading Biden by a significant margin in most of the swing states, and enough to likely secure the White House. It should be pointed out that there is something fishy about polling and news cycles that center on a 2-person race when in fact there have been no primary votes cast in either party and there is a 3rd party challenger polling at 22%. Why would you poll for just 2 candidates? In order to create a different narrative than what’s actually happening? More on that in a bit.
First, the Democrats’ consternation comes as some surprise, as the signal from voters has been apparent for most to see: Biden has had historic low approval ratings since September 2021 (when his Administration shamefully botched the exit from Afghanistan); we’ve seen polling for more than a year that shows 75% of Democrats - his own party - want someone else to be President; and he is facing the third Democrat to announce a challenge for the Democratic nomination for President. Importantly, the most popular and first Democratic Party challenger to Biden - RFK, Jr. - left the party due to its antidemocratic primary process and is polling at an “eye-popping” 22% as an independent.
Despite these warnings flashing since Biden’s first year in office, for the first time major players from the Obama administration and other Democrat Party heavyweights are signaling their concern. And it appeared well-coordinated over the weekend.
David Axelrod, Chief Strategist of the Obama campaign and Assistant to the President under Obama tweeted yesterday:
Former Obama Campaign Manager and Senior Adviser, Dan Pfeiffer:
And the second best writer named “Jon Favreau” - the former Obama speechwriter - tweeted in response:
It is important to note, this all coincides with a big media blitz by Obama on the 15th anniversary of his election, including a major Israel/Palestine clip from Dan and Jon’s “Pod Save America” in which Obama blames everyone but himself (as all politicians are wont to do, but he is especially good at it) for the disaster ongoing in Israel and Gaza. More on that tomorrow.
Even more interesting, Obama’s role in the current administration is larger than anyone has been led to believe, with new revelations that he ran the AI Executive Order strategy for the President, and may be consulting on many other issues as well.
So let’s repeat that back. A major poll, which purposefully eliminated 2 major candidates -likely showing very different outcomes - has been released that shows Biden will lose. Obama and his key inside supporters run a media blitz at the same time signaling they intend to get involved in some way, and stories begin to surface that Obama is secretly helping to run things. What does that all signal?
The game is afoot. I’ve predicted since May that Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee, and every day that goes by I think this prediction is strengthened. I wrote in August about it and received a bit of pushback, but since then Bill Maher and David Ignatius have opined similarly.
But this weekend’s media blitz is different. A popular former President and his lieutenants are making moves that signal a new strategy for the Party, if they can keep it. Let us not forget they crowned Hillary Clinton to succeed Obama over Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in 2016, and may again want to decide the race.
Yet the relationship is significantly more complicated than widely appreciated — especially when it comes to the delicate topic of presidential elections. Biden’s feelings were raw for years after Obama effectively chose Hillary Clinton over his VP in 2016. And though it played out much more quietly, both of them also still remember their achingly uncomfortable run-up to 2020 — its negotiations, its tip-toeing around personal and political sensitivities and its Obaman interests in candidates not named Joe — all too well. (Source: Politico)
Whether team Obama wishes to prop Joe up for 12 more months or not I am unsure, but past history leans against, as above. Perhaps they think they can win this campaign by proxy (as any professional will tell you the current Joe Biden does not have the strength, energy, nor focus to campaign and win a close election), get their preferred VP slotted in instead of Kamala Harris and await Joe’s demise. But Axelrod at least is signaling his acceptance that they will need a new candidate to win. Are they watching Dean Phillips (who has declared) and Gavin Newsome (who really, really, really wants to declare) and worried their control of the party is at risk?
Besides the terrible, awful, no good polling data coming out, another albatross is circling the Biden candidacy. Like Trump, he is involved in two major criminal investigations that could end his candidacy - the special prosecutor assigned to his documents case, which may be as bad if not worse than Trump’s - and the ongoing corruption scandal involving bribes from foreign government interests in China, Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere.
The clock is ticking, as the first primaries are about 90 days away. What are the Democrats going to do? My bet is whatever former President Obama decides, if he has not already. These are the first signals that he has a plan and is starting to implement it. Remember folks, the Presidential race has not really even started yet.