Obama adviser reveals private conversations urging Biden not to run in 2016
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One of former President Barack Obama’s top strategists says he was discouraged by then-Vice President Joe Biden From being a candidate in the 2016 presidential election.
University of Virginia Miller Center on Monday. published an interview He’s with David Plouffe, the Obama strategist tasked with informing Biden that he shouldn’t run for president because he “can’t win.” At the time, Biden was grieving the death of his son Beau Biden and was far behind Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
“What I would say is, ‘Listen, sir, first and foremost, I’m worried about you as a human being. I’m not sure you’re in a position to run. But if this had happened six, seven months ago, it would have been a different conversation. There’s no room. There’s just no room for you,'” Plouffe said.
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Democratic strategist David Plouffe spoke at the University of Virginia Miller Center. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
“Iowa is a tough state for you. New Hampshire is a tough state for you, Bernie’s going to win. And South Carolina, Hillary’s going to clean it up. There’s no room for you,” he continued. “And by the way, Hillary won’t explode.”
Plouffe told Biden that Sanders wouldn’t explode either.
“I think he eventually accepted it, but I think there were a few more people around him. They really excited him because part of it was, ‘Donors are telling us to run.’ I said, ‘I know these donors.’ Let’s talk about them.’ It was some guys from California. I said, ‘This is not a campaign.’ I understand that Hillary is having a hard time against Bernie in this campaign. That’s right. But that’s partly why there’s no room for you. “Bernie and Hillary are both guaranteed 80 percent of those voters.” Plouffe said, adding that Clinton did better than Biden with Black voters at the time.
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One of former President Barack Obama’s top strategists says he discouraged then-Vice President Joe Biden from running in the 2016 presidential election. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)
Plouffe explained that he felt Biden would compete against now-President Donald Trump, but “he doesn’t have the trust and character issues that Hillary has with voters.” He suggested that Biden might outperform Clinton in some areas during the general election, but there’s no way he’ll get there.
“Like poor Joe. And in my opinion, listen, Biden’s career is over. Obama picked him to be his vice president. And Biden was very clear, even before Beau, that he wasn’t going to be the nominee.” [died]. But once Beau happens, of course you think there’s no way to escape,” Plouffe said.
“Until then [Biden] we kind of kicked the tires on that, we’re fully developed, two incredibly strong, vote-getting candidates,” he continued. “And Biden’s natural line, the White working class, the labor union members, was kind of split between Sanders and Clinton, but they both had strong support.”
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Then-Vice President Joe Biden speaks with his son Beau Biden at Camp Victory near Baghdad, Iraq, July 4, 2009. (Halid Muhammed-Havuz/Getty Images)
Plouffe then shifted gears and said many Democratic voters objected to former Vice President Kamala Harris receiving the 2024 nomination without a party primary after Biden essentially dropped out of the race.
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“This really upset voters more than I thought it would and undermined any authority on the danger Trump posed,” he said.
“And by the way, all these Democrats had covered up for Biden. So when you put that together, it means that Kamala was placed there and Biden was covered up, as the voters saw. I mean, I don’t think the party exactly made a calculation on that.” added Plouffe. “I don’t think we should dwell on it, but I think every Democrat should say: ‘Of course he shouldn’t have run. We know that now. A good president shouldn’t have run.’ And we should never again have a candidate who has not been fully vetted by the voters and chosen by the voters.”
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