The relationship between President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama is said to be wrought with “jealousy and tension,” according to a report in Fox News.
Some at the White House are on high alert as Barack and Michelle Obama plan to return to Washington for the unveiling of their official White House portrait on Wednesday.
Many insiders view Obama’s April visit to the White House a disaster for Biden. Obama owned the spotlight, left Biden looking “lost and alone in his own house” and was called “Vice President Biden” by the former commander in chief.
New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns allege there is a longstanding and ongoing “rivalry” between the two men.
Martin and Burns commented on the tension between the two men when interviewed on May 2 by CNN’s “New Day” host John Berman.
“For all the talk Biden and Obama do about brothers, they’re not that close. They don’t talk super often today. There’s a rivalry there,” said Martin.
Burns shared that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly said that Obama was “jealous” of the media’s presentation of Biden’s first-year accomplishments, saying,
“Pelosi told a friend that she believed that Obama was jealous of Joe Biden, and this is after the passage of the American Rescue Plan, it’s when he had unveiled his plans for infrastructure spending, more social welfare spending, climate spending, and has all this coverage of, you know, ‘Joe Biden, more transformational even than Barack Obama.'”
Washington Post White House reporter Tyler Pager wrote that when “Obama opened his remarks [at the White House] by saying, ‘Thank you, Vice President Biden.’ President Biden laughed and saluted, and Obama walked away from the podium and gave Biden a hug, vowing he was just making a joke … but for some longtime Biden staffers, the zinger punctured the celebratory mood.”
According to Pager, Biden’s team “saw the quip, intentional or not, as part of a pattern of arrogance from Obama and a reminder of the disrespect many felt from Obama’s cadre of aides toward Biden.”
While many expect the atmosphere to be positive when Obama’s and Biden’s teams meet again at Wednesday’s portrait unveiling ceremony, Pager and others believe there are “turbulent waters between the two groups.”
In his piece for the Washington Post, Pager wrote: “Beneath that jovial atmosphere, however, is long-simmering tension, and even some jealousy, between the circles around Obama and Biden.”
Pager added: “Some Biden loyalists are resentful that Obama didn’t throw his weight behind Biden’s presidential aspirations, complaining that even now Obama’s team does not fully respect Biden.”
Pager went on to explain that some on Obama’s team are “frustrated that Biden’s aides regularly boast of how they have avoided the mistakes of the Obama White House, such as failing to sufficiently tout the president’s accomplishments.”
Some Democratic leaders are working to promote a picture of unity within the party — particularly as the midterms are weeks away. Speaking of the Biden administration, adviser to former President Obama David Axelrod stated, “I think they had a very rich partnership during the Obama administration. I think it would be a mistake to suggest otherwise.”
Pager noted that “A White House official dismissed ‘the idea of any tension’ between the two camps,” adding that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the current first couple is “honored” to be hosting the former first couple.
Pager ended his piece by noting that aides in the Obama and Biden camps “say the ‘bromance’ was always exaggerated.”
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