Joe Biden Mocked For Reminding Voters On ‘Best Friends Day’ That He’s Cool With Barack Obama
Joe Biden took to Twitter on Saturday to wish a happy “Best Friends Day” to his old pal Barack Obama, and the internet had some fun ribbing Joe over it.
On Saturday, the former vice president in the Obama White House posted a picture of a pair of friendship bracelets with “Joe” written on one and “Barack” on the other. The post included a personal message to the popular former president.
“Happy Best Friends Day to my friend, Barack Obama,” Biden wrote in the caption.
The implication seemed a little too on the nose for a number of people, which drew some mockery for Biden. Many noted that it seemed to be a hamfisted attempt to remind voters of Biden’s connection to the former president, whose popularity with voters exceeds his own.
“This really gets to the essence of the Joe Biden campaign: ‘You like Obama and Obama likes me so please like me too’ ” one person wrote on Twitter.
“BIDEN 2020: I know Barack Obama,” another added.
Others found it a bit cheap of Biden to make it appear as if Obama were endorsing him when the former president has been very deliberate in not endorsing any candidates. Obama has worked with the Democratic National Committee to promote a fund that will support the eventual winner and fund get-out-the-vote efforts, but Obama himself said he is not picking a favorite for the Democratic Primary.
this is just biden issuing an obama endorsement of biden without obama actually endorsing biden https://t.co/TlBmW58Taj
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) June 9, 2019
Joe Biden has been criticized for a lack of substance on the campaign trail, with some political experts believing that he is trying too hard to ride the popularity of Obama into his own presidential nomination, even if that means keeping his policy statements more bland.
Some experts believe the strategy won’t get him too far. As Charles Chamberlain, chair of progressive advocacy group Democracy for America noted, Biden will eventually have to show voters that he has progressive bona fides of his own.
“You can only go so long on the coattails of a former president, no matter how well-liked a former president is,” Chamberlain told The Associated Press.
Happy #BestFriendsDay to my friend, @BarackObama. pic.twitter.com/JTd1t7NtyL
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 9, 2019
But the strategy seems to be working so far for Joe Biden. The former vice president has built a double-digit polling lead over the next-closest competitors in a crowded Democratic field, and he also leads polls for the key early voting states like Iowa and South Carolina. More recent polls have shown that Biden’s lead has leveled off a bit from the peak just after he announced, but he remains the favorite.
